


Do As They Please

by Ellimac



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animal Shelter, Alternate Universe - Human, Animal Death, Asexual Amethyst, F/F, Take Your Fandom to Work Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-06-09 13:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6910030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellimac/pseuds/Ellimac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amethyst has been volunteering at the local animal shelter for more than a year now, and she's perfectly happy doing it on her own. But one day, she comes in as usual, and there's already someone there. Her name is Peridot, and it's not long before she and Amethyst start getting along like a house on fire. Of course, since houses on fire are generally considered bad things, it might be a bumpier road than Amethyst anticipated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> "Women and cats will do as they please." -Robert A. Heinlein

Amethyst had her Saturday afternoon routine almost down to a science: arrive at the animal shelter at five to two, check in, go to the front desk for the key to the cat isolation building, and hang out with the sick kitties until five o’clock. That was how it had gone almost every Saturday since she had first started volunteering, barring a few where she had been sick, and one memorable time she had been in the hospital thanks to a broken collarbone from falling off a cliff.

But this week was different. This week, when she went to the front desk to ask April for the key, April told her there was already someone down there.

“What, like a new volunteer?” Amethyst said.

“I think so,” April said. “About time, huh? You’ve been on that shift alone for ages.”

“Oh,” Amethyst said. “Cool.”

She smiled at April as she turned to go down to the building, but as soon as she was outside the main shelter, her smile dropped. The truth was, she _liked_ working alone. It wasn’t that she didn’t like people; she loved people. She had been a people person for as long as she could remember. It was just that she had been working the shift alone for so long that she didn’t like to imagine her routine being disturbed by anyone, especially a new volunteer, who would no doubt need help figuring things out.

Well, it was that or stop volunteering, and Amethyst knew which one sounded better to her. She shrugged to herself and opened the door. Whatever happened, happened.

At first, the building seemed to be empty of people. There were plenty of cats, some of whom in the front room started meowing as soon as she walked in, but there was no new volunteer in sight. That was until an unfamiliar face poked around the corner, shortly followed by the person attached to it.

Amethyst’s first impression was that she was short, even shorter than Amethyst herself, who, at five foot even, didn’t get to say that often. Her hair was short, too, with green tips and brown roots, which reminded Amethyst that it was about time to re-dye her own hair. She wore glasses that reminded Amethyst of Harry Potter, and when she reached up to push them up the bridge of her nose, Amethyst saw that she had band-aids around all her fingertips, and a beaded bracelet that spelled out something she couldn’t read from here.

“Hey,” Amethyst said. “You must be the new volunteer, huh?”

“Yes,” the stranger said. “I was hoping you’d show up. They said you would, but I’ve been here ten minutes and I don’t know what to do.”

Amethyst glanced at her watch, wondering if she’d gotten the time wrong. But it told her it was only 1:58. “It’s not like I’m late.”

“No, but I’ve never done this before. I don’t know what to do.”

“Okay.” Amethyst crossed the hall to her. Up close, she should see that the bracelet spelled out PERIDOT. “First off, my name’s Amethyst.”

“Peridot.”

Well, that explained the bracelet. Amethyst offered her hand to shake, but Peridot just stared at it as if she had never seen that gesture before, so Amethyst dropped it.

“So,” Amethyst said. “What have you done so far?”

“Nothing.” Peridot shoved her hands into her pockets. “I said hello to all the cats. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Amethyst pursed her lips. “Didn’t you get any instructions… at all?”

Peridot took a step back, glaring at Amethyst. “Of course I did! I took a cat skills class like everyone else.”

Okay, Amethyst thought. Crash course time. “How about a tour so you know where everything is?”

Peridot frowned. “I’ve been here ten minutes. I know where everything is.”

Amethyst raised her eyebrows. “Okay,” she said. “ _You_ give me a tour, then.”

Peridot’s eyes widened a fraction, and she pulled her hands out of her pocket, seemingly unconsciously, and started fiddling with her bracelet. Amethyst expected her to tell her _no_ , but she said, “Okay,” and looked around.

The isolation building was basically an L-shaped hallway with various rooms coming off it. Currently, they were standing right at the corner, and the closest rooms were the two back rooms. Peridot pointed to each doorway and said, “Those rooms are cat rooms. Right now there’s two cats in each room.”

She looked at Amethyst as if checking for approval, so Amethyst nodded. “What next?”

“Um…” Peridot looked around, then started past Amethyst. “This way.”

Amethyst followed her down the hall until they reached the next set of doors. Peridot gestured, adopting a professional tour guide voice as if she were being graded on this. “To the left is the laundry room. That’s also where all the food and bedding is. I checked. And to the right is another cat room, and then off that is the, um…”

“Storage room,” Amethyst supplied, when Peridot floundered.

“Storage room,” Peridot repeated. “Right. That’s where we keep all the litterboxes and cleaning supplies.”

Amethyst nodded. “Uh huh. What’s next?”

Peridot almost skipped forward in her hurry to move on. “Um, then on the left is, um… the visiting room?” She glanced at Amethyst as she made this guess, but didn’t give her enough time to answer before rushing on, “It’s where we take the cats out to socialize them.”

“Usually we call it the colony room, but yeah,” Amethyst said. “And then?”

“And then…” Peridot hesitated. “There’s the bathroom… and across from that is the room for staff-only cats. I mean, cats that we volunteers aren’t allowed to work with.”

Amethyst nodded. “Exactly. We try to get those cats out to foster as soon as possible so they don’t have a chance to infect the other cats. And the last room is…?”

“Another cat room.” Peridot pointed, then brought her hands in front of her, fiddling nervously with her band-aids. “Is that right?”

“Yeah, you pretty much got the basics down,” Amethyst said. “The storage room is also where we wash the litterboxes, in those big sinks against the wall.”

“How often do we need to do that?” Peridot said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “Every time they use them?”

Amethyst couldn’t help it; she laughed. “God, no. We’d waste so much water, and we’d never be done, especially in kitten season. No, we scoop a couple times a day, and we replace the litterbox maybe once a day, or more often if the cat’s got diarrhea or something.”

Peridot nodded. “What about food? How often do we feed them?”

“Refill the dry food if it’s empty,” Amethyst said. “As for wet food—twice a day. Once in the morning, which isn’t our job so don’t worry about it, and once in the evening. I usually do that around 4:30.”

“One can each?”

“No _way_ ,” Amethyst said. “That would be two cans a day. They’d explode. No, they usually get a third to half of a can, depending on how many there are and how good I am at portioning it up. You can do that, if you want—later, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Peridot said. She looked around. “So… what now?”

Amethyst grinned. “Now we get to do the fun stuff. You said you met all the cats? Which one’s your favorite?”

Peridot gave her a look as though Amethyst had just asked her to do something illegal—a mixture of distrust, disbelief, and suspicion. But after a moment long enough for Amethyst to wonder if Peridot had even picked a favorite, she said, “Luna.”

“Lead me to her,” Amethyst said. She hadn’t met Luna yet, but that wasn’t surprising; there was a lot of turnover in cat isolation, as sick cats got better and healthy cats got sick.

As it turned out, Luna was one of the two cats in the first back room. At first, her cage looked empty, but as Peridot approached, the bed lifted up, and Amethyst realized she had been sleeping beneath it. She was a short-haired tuxedo, barely out of kittenhood, with white toes and a smattering of white freckles across her face. When Peridot stuck her fingers through the bars, Luna pushed her face against them and started to purr.

“She’s really cute,” Amethyst said. “You wanna take her out?”

Peridot withdrew her fingers as if shocked and thrust her hands back into her pockets. “Are we allowed—?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she seemed to realize that it was a silly question. She blushed, and it struck Amethyst that she was very cute when she blushed.

But she held back from commenting on it. “Yes,” she said, “we are allowed to take them out. It’s our job to socialize them, remember? Do you know how to pick up a cat?”

“We covered it in cat skills class,” Peridot said, which, to Amethyst, indicated that that was her _only_ source of knowledge on the subject.

“Okay,” Amethyst said. She paused a moment as Peridot stood in front of the cage, not moving. “You’re gonna have to take your hands out of your pockets.”

Peridot blushed again. “I know that.” But she kept her hands in her pockets, standing there awkwardly until Amethyst moved past her to open the cage.

“Hey, sweetie,” Amethyst said, speaking to Luna. “You look pretty good, huh? You got a little case of the sniffles?”

“You talk to the cats?” Peridot said, sounding thoroughly unimpressed.

“Sure,” Amethyst said. “I’ve been working here alone for more than a year. Who else am I going to talk to?” She stepped aside. “Here. You take her out.”

Peridot looked at her with terror in her eyes. Amethyst suppressed a laugh. “Come on. She won’t hurt you.”

“She has claws,” Peridot pointed out, nodding to where Luna was happily kneading her blanket.

“Yeah, and? You had no problem sticking your fingers in the cage for her.” Amethyst stood aside. “Go on.”

Peridot still seemed doubtful, but she moved forward when Amethyst stepped out of the way, and reached in to pet the cat.

“So do you have any pets at home?” Amethyst said.

“No,” Peridot said. “I had goldfish when I was younger, but that’s it. I’m actually allergic to cats.” Sure enough, she punctuated that sentence with a sniffle.

Amethyst let out a surprised laugh. “Then why are you volunteering _here_?”

Peridot glared at her. “I happen to like animals, okay?” Somewhat awkwardly, she reached into the cage and scooped Luna out. Luna clung to her shoulder for a moment until Peridot shuffled her into a more comfortable position. “Now what?”

“Now we take her to the colony room,” Amethyst said. “I’m sure you remember where it is.”

Peridot glared at her and didn’t answer, opting instead to head past her and out to the colony room. Amethyst followed her, closing the door of the colony room behind her as Peridot set the cat down. Confronted by a new environment, Luna took one look around and bolted for the nearest shelter, which happened to be a cat tower in the corner.

“She’s a little shy, isn’t she?” Amethyst said with a smile.

Peridot got down on her knees and held out her hand. Luna poked her head out from behind the tower and cautiously leaned forward to sniff Peridot’s knuckles. Once she had satisfied herself that Peridot was not a threat, she came trotting right out and headbutted her leg.

“She likes me,” Peridot said, delighted.

Amethyst grinned. “Are you sure you’ve never had cats before? You’re a natural at this.”

Though it hadn’t been the goal, Amethyst was pleased to see Peridot turning faintly pink at that remark. “Thank you,” Peridot muttered.

Amethyst leaned against the door, watching as Peridot scratched Luna’s head, then under her chin, until Luna flopped over with her back against Peridot’s leg. Peridot smiled down at her. “She’s really cute, isn’t she?”

“She sure is,” Amethyst said. “You wanna spend some time with her while I go take care of the less fun stuff?”

Peridot nodded without even looking up at her. “Yeah. You go do that.”

Amethyst pressed her lips together, suppressing a smile. “Cool. See you later, P-Dot.”

That got Peridot to look up. “ _What_ did you just call me?”

“P-dot,” Amethyst repeated. “It’s called a nickname. Ever heard of ’em?”

“I know what a nickname is,” Peridot snapped. “But _P-Dot_?”

Amethyst gave her best winning smile. “You don’t like it?”

“It sounds like you’ve forgotten the rest of my name,” Peridot said flatly.

Amethyst laughed. “Okay, okay. P-Dot is off the list. But don’t think I’m going to give up until I find a nickname you like.”

Peridot sniffed. “Whatever.”

“Later, P,” Amethyst said, grinning at Peridot’s groan of exasperation as she slipped out the door. She kept smiling as she made her way to the laundry room. She could already tell Peridot was going to like it here, allergies or no.

\--

Two hours later, the majority of which Peridot had spent with Luna, Amethyst wondered if she should revise that opinion. When Peridot came to see how Amethyst was doing in the laundry room, she looked as if she had been punched in the face, or possibly stung by multiple bees. Her face was puffy, her eyes were red, and she was practically dripping with both tears and snot.

“Jeez,” Amethyst said. “You get hit by a truck, or what?”

Peridot sniffed. “I told you. I have allergies.”

“Can you even breathe?” Amethyst leaned forward. “You look terrible.”

“Wow, thanks,” Peridot said dryly. “I’ll be fine, all right? I’ll just take some more allergy medicine when I get home.”

“You wanna head home early? I don’t mind,” Amethyst said.

Peridot glared at her and sniffed again. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m staying for the whole shift. It’s only another hour.”

Amethyst grinned. Peridot was stubborn; a girl after Amethyst’s own heart. “Okay. How about we feed ’em early? It’ll give you something to do without having to touch any more cats.”

“Sure. Whatever.” Peridot headed for the cabinet that contained the wet food and got out four cans. “As long as you feed it to them.”

“Deal,” Amethyst said, and started getting out bowls for Peridot to put the food in while Peridot opened the cans. “So how are you liking it so far?”

“It’s great,” Peridot said, her voice thick with snot. Amethyst couldn’t help but giggle, and Peridot shot her a sharp glance. “I’m serious. The cats are great.”

“Especially the one cat, huh?” Amethyst said, giving her a knowing nudge. Peridot took a small step to the side, away from Amethyst, and didn’t look at her.

“Maybe,” she said grudgingly.

“You really like that Luna.”

“She’s really cute.” Peridot neatly divided one can of food into three and dropped each third into a separate bowl. “If I were going to take home any cat…”

“Oh, believe me, I know how it goes,” Amethyst said. “But hey—some advice?”

Peridot finally looked at her. “What?”

“Wait a while,” Amethyst said. “Don’t adopt the first cat you fall in love with. I know it’s tempting, but you work here long enough, you learn how easy it is to fall in love.”

Peridot looked back at the food. “Yeah. Okay.” She paused. “Amethyst?”

“Yeah?”

“Are there any tissues down here?”

Amethyst laughed. She couldn’t help it. Peridot glared at her, but Amethyst reached into a cabinet and handed her a box of tissues. She was definitely going to like working with Peridot.


	2. Chapter 2

The following Saturday, Amethyst skipped the step of asking for the keys, assuming that Peridot would already be in the cat isolation building ahead of her. Sure enough, when she tried the door, it was unlocked, and Peridot was waiting for her inside.

“Hey,” Amethyst said, giving a little wave.

“Tell me more about fostering,” Peridot said, without bothering with a greeting.

Amethyst blinked. Had she even mentioned fostering? Well, she had, briefly—but…

“Sure,” she said. “Why the sudden interest?”

“No reason,” Peridot said, too quickly. “Just tell me how it works.”

“Well…” Amethyst thought about that for a moment. There was so much that went into fostering, it was hard to know where to start. “Rachel’s our foster care coordinator, so if you’re interested in fostering, you should talk to her. Basically, you take home a cat or kitten or several kittens—dogs need fostering, too, but I’m guessing you’re not as interested in that—and keep ’em until they’re healthy, or old enough to be adopted.” She paused. “You’re not actually considering fostering, are you? I mean… with your allergies…”

“They’re getting better,” Peridot said defensively. “Besides, it would just be one cat. She can’t have _that_ much dander.”

“So there is a reason,” Amethyst said with a grin. Peridot blushed and started fiddling with her bracelet.

“Come on,” Amethyst said. “Which cat is it? Is it Luna?”

Peridot looked at the floor, embarrassed. “She’s in the colony room,” she muttered. “I got here early and let her out. I’m going to play with the other cats, too,” she added defensively. Amethyst held up her hands.

“Hey, no judgment from me,” she said. “So you wanna take her home? Smart to foster first. Do you think you’ll adopt her after?”

“No,” Peridot said. “I mean, maybe. I’m going to follow your advice. If I like her when I foster her, I’ll think about it.”

“So you’re definitely going to foster her?”

Peridot frowned. “If I can. What, do you think it’s a bad idea?”

“I think you’re going to do it no matter what I say,” Amethyst said. “So go for it. But make sure you tell Rachel you’ve got your eye on a specific cat so she doesn’t go off and get adopted without you.”

“Yeah.” Peridot looked over at the door to the colony room. “Um… I’m going to go back in with her.”

Amethyst laughed. “Okay. I’ll let you lovebirds be. But don’t keep her in there the whole three hours, all right? There are other cats that want our love and attention.”

 Peridot didn’t even seem to hear her, already heading for the colony room. Amethyst grinned after her and went to go see what else needed to be done. There was no shortage of work; laundry was an ongoing chore, and one cat needed his litterbox replaced. But, when Peridot still hadn’t come out of the colony room forty-five minutes later, Amethyst went to knock on the door. “Hey. You all right in there? Did you fall into an allergy coma or something?”

“I’m fine,” Peridot said, her voice muffled through the door.

Amethyst rolled her eyes. “I’m coming in.”

To her complete lack of surprise, Peridot was on the floor, petting Luna, who had fallen asleep with her head resting against Peridot’s leg. Peridot was absently petting her, gazing down at her contentedly.

Amethyst leaned against the door. “Aww. You two are so cute together. Should I take a picture? When’s the honeymoon?”

Peridot looked up and scowled at her. “Shut up,” she said. “She’s cute, all right?”

“So are you,” Amethyst said with a grin, and as she had hoped, Peridot blushed. She continued, “I get it, though. I’ve fallen in love with cats, too. I hope you get to take her home—maybe even keep her. Just try not to get too attached. You never know which cats are even going to be here next week.”

“I know,” Peridot said, sounding resigned.

“Anyway, it’s time for her to go back to her cage for now,” Amethyst said. “She’s been out almost an hour.”

Peridot looked back down at the cat, who was purring quietly with each breath. “She’s asleep.”

“Not for long, she isn’t.” Amethyst reached down to pick up the cat. Peridot let out a yelp and slapped her hand away, but the noise of the slap woke the cat anyway, and she lifted her head and looked around in alarm. Peridot tried to comfort her by scratching her head, but that left Amethyst free to reach down again.

“Leave her alone!” Peridot said, in a voice approaching a screech. This proved too much for Luna, and she scampered behind the cat tower, trembling and fluffy-tailed.

Peridot scrambled to her feet. “Why did you _do_ that?” she snapped. “She was happy!”

Amethyst held up her hands defensively. “Hey, sorry. She can’t stay out the whole time, all right? There are other cats in the shelter.” She saw the stubborn look on Peridot’s face and sighed. “Look, let me deal with this, and you go… I don’t know, look at another cat or something.”

Peridot scowled at her and stalked out of the room, leaving Amethyst to coax Luna out from behind the cat tower. This took some time, as Luna was quite the jumpy cat, but once Amethyst got her out, she snuggled right up to Amethyst’s chest until they reached her cage and Amethyst put her inside. Amethyst wiggled her fingers through the bars briefly, smiling as Luna headbutted them, and then went to go find Peridot—and hopefully get her to forgive her.

\--

Luna was not at the shelter when Amethyst arrived next week, and nor, to her surprise, was Peridot. She arrived within minutes of Amethyst, though, showing up just as Amethyst was loading the first round of laundry for the afternoon. She heard the door opening and peered out to see Peridot approaching, her nose looking a little red.

“Hey,” Amethyst said. “You all right?” The red nose, she figured, was either a sign of allergies, or that Peridot had been crying. Given Luna’s absence, it could easily be either.

“I’m fine,” Peridot said with a sniffle. “It’s just allergies. I took Luna home on Monday.”

“Oh, hey—congratulations!” Amethyst held up her hand for a high-five, but as before, Peridot just stared at it until Amethyst dropped it. “Fostering?”

Peridot nodded, and Amethyst grinned.

“So, Sneezy,” Amethyst said, “how are you adjusting to life with a full-time cat?”

Peridot glared at her and ignored the nickname. “It’s… great,” she said. Her hand went to her wrist and started fiddling with her bracelet. “More work than I expected.”

“Oh, wait until you foster more than one at a time,” Amethyst said. “One cat is one thing. A litter of kittens is totally different. Do you know if you want to keep fostering after Luna?”

Peridot shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. It’s pretty fun, I guess.”

“Cool. Hey—Perilicious?”

Peridot shuddered at the nickname. Amethyst grinned.

“Can I have your address?” she said. “I’d like to visit this cat, and any hypothetical future kittens you might foster.”

She said it as a joke, and Peridot seemed to realize it, given the way she glared suspiciously at Amethyst. But then she said, “Okay.”

Amethyst blinked. “Wait, seriously?”

Peridot held up a warning finger. “On one condition,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“You have to promise to never, ever call me that ever again, as long as you live.”

Amethyst laughed. “Fair enough.” She held up an imaginary notepad and pretended to cross something off it. “Perilicious is off the list.”

Peridot held out her hand. “Give me your phone. I’ll program my address and phone number in.”

Amethyst rummaged in her pocket and handed her phone over. “Just don’t look through my photos,” she said.

Peridot scoffed. “Why? Do you have embarrassing pictures on here?”

“No. Nude selfies.”

Peridot almost dropped the phone. “And _that’s_ not embarrassing?”

“Nope.” Amethyst popped the P. “So, Peridiculous…”

Peridot winced. “Don’t make me change my mind about this.”

“Gotcha.” Amethyst crossed out another line on her imaginary notepad. “Peridiculous and Perilicious are out. Anyway… is it cool with you if I come over tonight?”

Peridot glared at her suspiciously, but went back to entering her address in Amethyst’s phone. “All right, fine. As long as you’re not a stalker or anything.” She paused. “You’re not a stalker, are you?”

“I guess you’re gonna find out,” Amethyst said, with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Peridot scowled at her. “That isn’t funny.”

“Okay, fine. No, I’m not a stalker. Come on, Peridactyl, just give me the address.”

Peridot’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that a joke?”

Amethyst grinned. “Okay, that’s a no to Peridactyl. Don’t worry, I’ll find one you don’t hate soon enough.”

Peridot sighed, but when she handed Amethyst her phone back, she had entered both her address and phone number. “Don’t make me regret this,” she said.

“I won’t,” Amethyst promised. “So—back to work. Lots of cats here that need our love and affection, and plenty of less fun chores to do. Where do you want to start?”

Peridot sniffled. “I think I’ll start with the laundry,” she said dryly.

Amethyst saluted. “Lead the way, Captain Allergies. I’m right behind you.”

“If you call me that again I’m taking your phone and smashing it so you can never contact me again,” Peridot snapped.

“Whatever you say, Peridot,” Amethyst said with a grin. “Whatever you say.”


	3. Chapter 3

Perhaps Peridot hadn’t thought Amethyst was serious when she said she wanted to come over. Maybe she had thought it was all a big joke on Amethyst’s part. But she had given Amethyst her address, and Amethyst wasn’t about to give up an opportunity to see more of Peridot.

So, at around seven o’clock that night, after she had had a chance to eat dinner, she drove to Peridot’s place.

Peridot lived in a small house in a cul-de-sac at the bottom of a hill. Rented, probably; Peridot couldn’t be any older than Amethyst, and no one their age bought houses anymore. Either way, it was a nice house, Amethyst thought as she knocked on the door.

Peridot answered almost immediately. “There you are. I was expecting you a lot sooner.”

Amethyst raised her eyebrows. “Wow. Sorry I didn’t adhere to your schedule you didn’t tell me about, Peri.”

Peridot gave her a look, but didn’t object to the nickname. It seemed that Amethyst had found a winner. It was a little boring for her tastes, but since Peridot hadn’t gone for Perilicious, Peridactyl, or Peridiculous, Amethyst figured shorter was the safer way to go.

“Come in,” Peridot said. “If I leave the door open long enough, Luna will make a break for it.”

Sure enough, as soon as Amethyst stepped inside and Peridot closed the door behind her, Luna came trotting out from behind the couch and sat at Peridot’s feet, looking up at the door expectantly. Amethyst crouched down and started petting her, and she seemed to forget entirely about the door, purring and arching into Amethyst’s hand.

Amethyst grinned up at Peridot. “I can see why you like her,” she said.

“Yeah,” Peridot said. “I had to lock her out of my room at night or she’d climb onto my bed and shed all over my face and I would suffocate and die.”

Luna meowed as if in agreement, and Amethyst laughed. “I’m not sure this is the cat for you, then.”

Peridot frowned, staring at the cat. “But I already told Rachel I was interested…”

“Hey, Rachel isn’t going to hold you to adopting the first cat you fall in love with. You can always do what I did and live somewhere that doesn’t allow pets so you don’t have a choice in the first place.”

She didn’t mean to sound bitter. In fact, she said it with a grin. But Peridot looked down at her sharply, and Amethyst wondered if her tone hadn’t been quite as light as she’d meant it to be.

But Peridot didn’t comment. Instead, she sat down next to Amethyst and started scratching between Luna’s ears. “I don’t know… I only have until Tuesday to decide. She’s getting a checkup, and if she’s healthy, I either give her back or start the adoption process.”

Amethyst raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t actually thought Peridot was this unsure. “You don’t know which one you’ll pick?”

Peridot scowled as Luna flopped down on the floor between them, purring madly. “I don’t _know_ ,” she said. “It’s more work than I expected, and she won’t get in my lap, and she runs and hides every time I open the door and she keeps trying to get into my bedroom and she keeps scratching my couch…” She started twisting her fingers. “I like her, but I don’t know if I like her _that_ much.”

Amethyst reached across to pat her shoulder, but Peridot flinched away, so she dropped her hand. “You don’t have to keep her,” she said. “There’s no rule that says you have to take home every cat you love, or keep every cat you take home. If there were, my apartment would be full of cats by now.”

“Even though your landlord doesn’t let you?” Peridot said.

Amethyst was silent. Peridot looked away and muttered, “Sorry.”

“It’s whatever,” Amethyst said quickly. “It doesn’t matter. One day I’ll find a place that allows pets. You seem to have a pretty sweet setup here.”

“Oh,” Peridot said. “Yeah. I’m renting it from some rich old businesswoman.” She looked around and stood up. Luna immediately started weaving around her legs. “Uh… do you want a tour?”

“Sure,” Amethyst said, getting to her feet. “I can give you a tour of my place, too, eventually. When you come over.”

Peridot gave her a look. “I don’t even know where you live.”

“I can change that,” Amethyst said with a grin.

For some reason, Peridot turned pink. “You can’t have my phone.”

“I wasn’t gonna ask for it.” Amethyst pulled out her own phone. “I’ll just text it to you.”

“Oh.” Peridot’s hands returned to fiddling with her fingers. As Amethyst watched, she deliberately moved her hand to her bracelet, instead. “Okay.”

There was silence for a moment as Amethyst texted Peridot, then put her phone away. “There you go. There’s my address. Now you can come over anytime you want.”

“I’d text first,” Peridot said.

“Good,” Amethyst said with a grin. “I’d need some warning to put on pants.”

Peridot rolled her eyes. “You’re too sweet.” She turned away. “Anyway. That tour. Um… this is my living room, obviously. That’s my kitchen, my dining room…” She pointed. “Down the hall to the left is my bedroom, and on the right is the guest bedroom. Then there’s the laundry room and the bathroom. And… that’s it, really.”

They hadn’t moved from the spot. Amethyst gave a little giggle. “Good tour. Thanks.”

Peridot started picking at her band-aids again. “You’re welcome,” she muttered.

Amethyst tilted her head. Her curiosity overcame her sense of courtesy—not a difficult thing to do. “Hey—Peri? Can I ask you a question?”

Peridot looked at her, immediately suspicious. “Obviously you just did.”

Amethyst took that as permission. “What’s with the band-aids?”

Peridot stared at her. Amethyst couldn’t read her expression. For a long moment, it seemed like she wasn’t going to answer. Then she looked away and said, “It’s called dermatillomania.”

“Oh,” Amethyst said. “Yeah, my roommate in college had that.”

Peridot looked at her in surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah. You can’t stop yourself picking at your skin, right?”

Peridot nodded. “That’s it. Most people haven’t heard of it.”

“Sure. So you pick at your fingers?”

“Uh huh. The bracelet and band-aids are to stop me.” She glanced at Amethyst. “And… to cover up the damage I’ve already done.”

Amethyst nodded. “Cool. And that works?”

“Mostly.” Peridot looked down, and after a moment of silence, mumbled, “Thanks for being so understanding. Most people think it’s gross.”

Amethyst waved that aside. “I ate a month-old fast food burrito once. It’s pretty hard to gross me out.”

Peridot choked on air. “ _What_?”

“Oh, yeah,” Amethyst said with a grin. “That’s not even the grossest thing I’ve ever eaten, either.”

Peridot held up a hand. “I don’t want to know.”

“I drank motor oil once.”

Peridot stared at her in disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”

Amethyst raised her right hand. “Dead serious.”

“Your insides must be made of steel,” Peridot said. “Also you’re disgusting.”

Amethyst laughed. “I’ll stop telling you gross food stories, then.”

“Thank you.” Peridot paused. “Why did you drink motor oil?”

“I thought you didn’t want to hear any more gross food stories.”

“I don’t,” Peridot snapped. “I just want to hear the rest of this one. So why did you drink motor oil? On a dare?”

“Nah.” Amethyst waved a hand. “I was like, twelve. I just wanted to see what it tasted like. By the way, it tastes terrible.”

“You don’t have to tell _me_ that,” Peridot said with a scowl. “Some of us are born with common sense.”

“You’d be surprised,” Amethyst said. “Common sense isn’t actually all that common.”

Peridot rolled her eyes. “Whatever. _Now_ I’m done with gross food stories. I don’t care if you ate a scorpion, I don’t want to hear about it.”

“I haven’t, actually,” Amethyst said, “but now that you’ve given me the idea…”

“Oh— _stop_ it!” Peridot shoved Amethyst to get her to stop talking. Amethyst just laughed. This, she thought, was going to be a wonderful relationship.


	4. Chapter 4

On Tuesday, Amethyst’s phone rang at ten in the morning, waking her up. She fumbled for her phone and glared at it, and was about to hit “ignore” when she realized whose name was on the screen. But why would Peridot be calling her at ten in the morning?

She held the phone to her ear and flopped back into bed. “Peri-Dorito? What’s up?”

Peridot’s sigh was clearly audible over the phone. Peri-Dorito was out, then. “What’s the matter with _you_?” Peridot said. “You sound like you just woke up.”

“Yeah, that’s because I did.” Amethyst rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Why are you calling so early?”

“It’s not early,” Peridot said, sounding indignant.

“If it’s before noon, it’s early.” Amethyst glanced at the clock, then sighed and sat up. “So? What is it? Some kind of emergency?”

“No,” Peridot said. She sounded irritated, though Amethyst thought that might just be how Peridot sounded over the phone. “I was just calling to tell you I decided not to keep the cat.”

“Oh.” Amethyst paused to process this. It didn’t come as much of a surprise, though she knew it would have, only a few days ago. “The work get to you?”

“No it’s not that. She just… wasn’t the cat for me.” Peridot sighed. “I told Rachel I had changed my mind, and she said that was fine, but…”

She let that sentence trail off. It took Amethyst a moment to realize that she was waiting for Amethyst to say something. “What, you want me to tell you that you made the right decision?” Amethyst kicked the covers off and set her feet on the floor. If she was going to be awake, she might as well make coffee. “It’s not like I’m going to judge you, Peri. People give up cats for tons of reasons. It’s no big deal.”

“I guess not,” Peridot said, though she didn’t sound convinced. “I just miss her.”

Amethyst held the phone against her shoulder while she started the coffee maker. “How long’s it been? An hour?”

“Maybe,” Peridot said defensively. “It’s just that I’m cleaning up her stuff and I… I kind of want to start fostering again right away.”

Amethyst smiled. “You really got addicted fast, huh? Well, talk to Rachel. You can foster again whenever you’re ready. I’m sure she’ll be happy to have help—it’s kitten season, after all.”

“I guess so.” Peridot paused as Amethyst watched the coffee drip down with agonizing slowness. “Have you ever fostered?”

“Yeah, until my landlord found out and had words with me. She was not a happy lady, let me tell you. I figured since the cats were temporary, it wasn’t a violation of my lease, but she didn’t seem to follow my logic.”

Peridot made a noise of amusement. “Really?”

“Cross my heart. She let me finish fostering that litter, but she said if she caught me at it again she’d have me evicted. I guess she didn’t like cats for some reason.”

“Only evil people don’t like cats,” Peridot said firmly. “When you were fostering, did you take breaks between cats? Or did you not get away with it for that long?”

“Nah, I got to foster a few times before I got caught. I usually waited a week or two to give myself time to get over the last cat. There’s always one you fall in love with, but you can’t keep ’em all.”

“Especially when your landlord doesn’t allow pets, right?” Peridot said dryly.

Amethsyt grinned as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. “Right.”

“Well… I’ll think about it,” Peridot said. “Maybe I should give myself time to cool down.”

“Right,” Amethyst said again. “Listen, I gotta eat breakfast. See you on Saturday?”

“Yeah, of course,” Peridot said. “Bye.”

She hung up, and Amethyst sat at the table with her cereal and smiled. It was nice of Peridot to think of her when she was having a crisis, even a minor one like this, though she was obviously going to have to adjust to Peridot being a morning person.

Well, she’d done it before. During the brief time that she’d roomed with Pearl, she had been woken up almost every morning long before she was ready, because Pearl decided that 9 AM was the perfect time to vacuum. If she could live through that and still be best friends with Pearl, then she could survive having a crush on a morning person.

\--

That night, sometime after midnight, she texted Peridot, _Hey. U up?_

Peridot didn’t answer. Amethyst, lying sideways on her bed with her head dangling off the edge, rolled her eyes. Of course Peridot wouldn’t be awake; apparently she was one of those people who insisted that getting up before ten was normal, and going to bed before midnight was perfectly reasonable. Amethyst had a special word for this kind of person: incorrect.

In light of that, she started texting Peridot repeatedly, knowing she wouldn’t get them until morning. She started by seeing how many ways she could say “hey, Peridot,” getting to about six times before moving on to small talk questions: what’s your favorite color, favorite animal, what’s your job when you’re not volunteering, what’s the weather like, got a boyfriend, got a girlfriend… admittedly, those last two had more of a purpose than the rest, but Amethyst left it to Peridot to figure that out.

Finally, she wished Peridot a good night and went to bed, not bothering to silence her phone, as she never did. It shouldn’t have surprised her, then, when she was woken up at 7:30 AM by her phone’s text tone going off several times.

The first one was a screenshot of Peridot’s phone, showing that she had 22 new messages from Amethyst. The second one said, _What’s wrong with you? I thought there was an emergency. I almost had a heart attack._ And after that, _You’re not even awake yet, are you?_ There were a few minutes between that text and the next one, during which Peridot apparently decided to give Amethyst a taste of her own medicine. The next 15 texts were Peridot answering each of Amethyst’s questions in turn.

Despite the early hour, Amethyst grinned as she scrolled through them. In quick succession, she learned that Peridot’s favorite color was purple, her favorite animal was a cat, that she worked as a barista at the local coffee shop, and that the weather was just fine, thank you. The last two texts, though, were simply answered with _No_ and _Do you?_

Amethyst scrolled back up to see what order she’d asked those questions in. Then she put her phone down on her chest and smiled up at the ceiling. It might not mean anything, of course; maybe Peridot just didn’t want to answer both questions the same way. But the fact that she had answered the girlfriend question with another question, rather than a flat-out _no_ or even worse, _I’m not gay_ , made Amethyst think that there might be something more to it.

She glanced at the clock and, seeing that it was still before eight in the morning, decided to respond when she was really awake, and promptly fell back to sleep.

\--

She didn’t hear from Peridot again until Saturday. Not that unusual; they had just started texting back and forth, after all. But when Peridot barely greeted her when she arrived, and refused to look at her even as Amethyst followed her around to see which cats were there, she realized something was wrong.

“What’s up, Peri?” she said.

“Nothing,” Peridot snapped, still not looking at her. She shoved her hands into her pockets, but not before Amethyst saw them shaking.

“Yeah, sure,” Amethyst said. “You’re just giving me the cold shoulder for fun.”

Peridot’s head snapped up, and she looked at Amethyst for the first time. “I’m giving _you_ the cold shoulder?”

Something in the way she said it made Amethyst frown. “Um… yes?”

Peridot stared at her in disbelief. “And what about you?”

Now confused, Amethyst said, “What _about_ me?”

“Are you giving _me_ the cold shoulder?”

Amethyst tried to think of what she could possibly be talking about and came up blank. “I’m pretty sure I’m not.”

Peridot seemed genuinely surprised. “But you… I… then why didn’t you answer my texts?”

Amethyst stared at her, and then suddenly it clicked. She pulled out her phone to check, and sure enough, those texts she had told herself she would answer four days ago were still there, read but unanswered. “ _Oh_. Give me a sec.”

She typed up a quick reply of _Nope, no girlfriend here. Yet_ , as Peridot watched, perplexed. Then she looked expectantly at Peridot, who just stared at her. As Amethyst put her phone away, Peridot’s phone buzzed, and she was halfway to her pocket when she realized what had happened.

“Really?” she said, giving Amethyst a withering glance. She looked at the text and her eyes widened slightly, and she coughed as if to cover up her embarrassment. “So… you’re not mad at me?”

“Nope. And you’re not mad at me, either.”

Peridot looked down and started twisting her bracelet. “I thought I must have offended you or something. I couldn’t figure out what I’d said wrong.”

“Peri, when I’m offended, you’ll know,” Amethyst said. It was true; she may not say very much when she was upset, but it would be very easy for anyone to tell that something was bothering her. As Pearl put it, Amethyst had a tendency to sulk. “If I don’t answer your texts, don’t freak out. It just means I meant to respond later, and later never happened.”

“Right,” Peridot said. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.” She paused. “So… let’s take care of the cats.”

“Lead the way,” Amethyst said, giving a flourishing gesture. Peridot glared at her, but turned to show Amethyst the rest of the cats. The conversation, Amethyst thought, had gone rather well; and if nothing else, it had established that neither of them had girlfriends. It was time, then, to make the most of the next three hours, and flirt with Peridot as much as possible.


	5. Chapter 5

Peridot texted on Sunday, thankfully well after Amethyst was already awake. Amethyst smiled when she saw it; it was hard to read tone over text, but the snark in Peridot’s _Are you awake?_ was impossible to miss.

_Barely,_ she texted back. _What’s up?_

_You amaze me_ , Peridot replied. Again, the text was dripping with sarcasm. _I’m bored. Can I come over?_

Amethyst glanced at the clock, then at her calendar, neither of which told her anything new. Then she looked down at herself and remembered that she was still in her pajamas.

_Sure._

_Okay. See you in fifteen minutes._

_Make it 20._

_Deal._

Good. That would give her time to grab a quick shower before Peridot got her. She set her phone aside and headed for the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later on the dot, Amethyst heard a knock at her door. She had just stepped out of the shower, so she wrapped a towel around herself and another around her hair and went to answer the door.

Peridot got about halfway through “hi” before she realized what Amethyst was wearing, or rather not wearing, and flung her arm over her eyes. “Oh my god! You couldn’t even have gotten dressed?”

“Sure, if you wanted to wait outside for five more minutes,” Amethyst said. “Come in, I’m getting cold.”

Peridot lowered her arm and stepped inside, looking to the side, up at the ceiling, down to the floor—everywhere but at Amethyst. Amethyst closed the door behind her and started for her bedroom.

“Make yourself at home,” she said. “I’ll be right out.”

When she came out, she found Peridot sitting on the couch, looking uncomfortable. Her hands were folded in her lap and she stared straight ahead, back ramrod-straight. Amethyst flopped on the couch next to her, deliberately making her posture even looser than it usually was.

“Is that really how you sit at home?” she said. “Because if so, I think you need to take relaxing lessons.”

“I didn’t know you were just getting out of the shower,” Peridot said stiffly, avoiding the question. Amethyst was gratified, though, to see her relax a little.

“Whatever,” Amethyst said with a shrug. “If I minded, I’d have gotten dressed first. _You_ don’t mind, do you?”

Peridot glanced sideways at her. “What, that you answered the door without any clothes on?”

“I was wearing a towel.”

“That hardly counts.” Peridot scowled.

Amethyst grinned. “All right, whatever. Next time I’ll get dressed before I answer the door. So, what do you wanna do? You come over for any special reason?”

“I told you, I’m bored,” Peridot said. “Besides, you came over to my house, so I thought it was time I return the favor.”

“Oh, it was a _favor_ , was it?” Amethyst put her hand on Peridot’s shoulder, and smiled when she didn’t pull away. “Well, I’m happy to help.”

Peridot blushed. “You know what I meant.”

“Yeah, but you had a cat. I don’t. Unless you wanted to pet me?” Amethyst fell over, her head in Peridot’s lap. That did make Peridot flinch, but only for a second; as soon as she got over being startled, she scowled harder and tried to shove Amethyst off her lap.

“Get off me,” she said. “You’re not a cat.”

“I could be.” Amethyst rolled over and propped herself up on her elbows, shifting out of Peridot’s lap as she did so. “In fact, I’m better than a cat, since you’re not allergic to me.”

Peridot pushed her again. “I’m allergic to _some_ things about you.”

“Aww.” Amethyst pouted. “Like what?”

“Your tendency to be obnoxious.” Peridot paused. “And answer the door naked.”

Amethyst burst out laughing. “Jeez, you make it sound like I gave you a full-frontal view. It’s not like I wasn’t wearing a towel.”

“I hope I’m not giving you ideas,” Peridot said, giving her best scowl. “I don’t actually _want_ to see you naked, you know.”

Amethyst wondered, briefly, what that meant. Was it her way of saying that she was straight? That she wasn’t interested in a relationship with Amethyst at all? Or did it just mean that she didn’t know her well enough to want to see her naked yet?

But she shrugged. “Well, I’m not naked now.”

“Thank god,” Peridot muttered.

Amethyst grinned and reached up to poke her nose. Peridot wrinkled it, but her only other reaction was to reach down and squish Amethyst’s cheeks. Amethyst stuck out her tongue and moved her hands to do the same to Peridot, but Peridot dodged it.

“No fair,” Amethyst said, through squished lips.

“You started it,” Peridot said, but she removed her hands.

Amethyst sat up. “Yeah, and I’m gonna finish it.” That was all the warning she gave before she tackled Peridot to the couch. Peridot let out a shriek, and kicked her feet, though not at Amethyst. It was only when Amethyst started tickling her that she actually shoved Amethyst hard enough for her to fall off the couch.

“No tickling,” she said, breathless.

“Fine by me,” Amethyst said. She sat up and opened her arms. “You want to get me back for that? For the record, you can tickle me all you want, but if I kick you in the face, it’s totally not my fault.”

For a moment, she didn’t think Peridot was going to go for it. She sat back on the couch and crossed her arms, glaring down at Amethyst. But then, just as Amethyst dropped her guard, Peridot lunged, knocking Amethyst backward onto the floor and pinning her there as she tickled her stomach. Amethyst gasped out a laugh and started wiggling to get away, but Peridot followed her, a rare grin on her face. Not that Amethyst was trying very hard to get away; this was the closest Peridot had ever been to her, and she wasn’t about to move away until Peridot wanted to.

\--

A week and a half after that play date, Amethyst got an email to all shelter volunteers calling for foster parents. At first, she passed over it, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to help, but then she remembered Peridot and read it in more detail. Apparently, the shelter was scheduled to get a big transfer in of puppies and kittens, and they needed all the help they could get.

Peridot would have gotten the email, too, but just to be sure, Amethyst texted her. _U see the email about the foster kittens?_

The reply was almost immediate. _I’m picking up a mother cat and her five kittens on Friday morning. You’re behind the times, Amethyst._

 Amethyst smiled at her phone. _Can I come visit them?_

_No. I’m going to hide them under my bed and barricade the door so no one can see them but me._

_Good. I’ll come over on Friday._

_Put on clothes first._

_If I have to._ Amethyst accompanied the text with a winking emoji.

Peridot responded with a glaring one, followed quickly by a _See you Friday_.

And so, when Friday rolled around, Amethyst texted Peridot to let her know she was coming over a little before noon. When she arrived, Peridot looked tired, but she smiled when she saw Amethyst.

“They’re in the guest room,” she said, without even greeting Amethyst. “Come on.”

Amethyst followed her. “You look dead on your feet. Been up long?”

“I spent the morning setting up their room,” Peridot said. “I just got them in a little more than an hour ago.” She stopped before the guest room door and gestured for Amethyst to go first.

The first thing Amethyst saw was a lot of boxes. There were boxes lining the gap between the bed and the floor, presumably so that the cats wouldn’t disappear under the bed, and a few more stuffed with blankets that she assumed were meant to serve as beds. But her eyes were drawn to the one under the desk, from which a pair of suspicious eyes stared out at her.

“At first she wouldn’t leave the carrier,” Peridot said softly, as she followed Amethyst across the room to the box. “But when I sat here for a little while and she figured out I wasn’t going to hurt them, she moved them right to that box.”

“Can I touch them?”

Peridot nodded. “They’re about ten days old. Just barely starting to open their eyes.”

Amethyst knelt down by the box and reached in. The mom was all black, and looked sleek, though she was partially covered by a mass of black fluff that, when Amethyst touched it, separated into five kittens. Three of them were black, but two stood out a little more—a striped tabby and a tortoiseshell. They had been sleeping, but when she ran her hand gently over them, they woke and started squeaking.

“They’re so _cute_ ,” she said. “What are their names?”

Peridot wrinkled her nose. “I haven’t named them yet. I don’t like the names the shelter gave them. They’re all named after candy.” She pointed. “The tabby is Marshmallow, and the tortoiseshell is Kit-Kat. The black ones are Jelly Bean, Starburst, and Twix. I don’t know which one is which. And the mom is Hershey. Marshmallow and Kit-Kat are girls, and so is Jelly Bean, but I don’t know which one she is. The other two are boys.” She glanced sideways at Amethyst. “I was sort of hoping you could help me name them.”

Amethyst put her hand to her heart. “Aww, I’m touched. Do you have any ideas yet?”

“Not really.” Peridot gazed into the box, where the kittens had started to nurse. “They don’t have much personality yet. All they do is eat and sleep.”

“What about the mom?” Amethyst reached back into the box to pet the mother cat, who looked at her with an expression of resignation. “She seems like a sweetheart.”

“I thought…” Peridot started fiddling with her fingers. “She looks kind of like a Leia.”

“Leia? Like Star Wars Leia?” Amethyst paused and looked at the cat. “You know, she does look like a Leia.”

Peridot looked at her. “Really? You like it?”

Amethyst nodded. “It suits her.”

Peridot looked back into the box. “Leia it is. The kittens… I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.”

“Other Star Wars characters?” One of the kittens was crawling over its siblings, squeaking and obviously lost. Amethyst picked it up and set it on her lap while Leia watched with wary eyes. “Like, this one could be C-3PO, maybe.”

Peridot laughed and shook her head. “I’ve thought about that, but I don’t think so. There aren’t very many characters that would fit them.”

Amethyst nodded, mock serious. “Not a lot of newborn kittens in Star Wars, huh?”

The kitten made its wobbly way to the edge of her lap. She put up her hand as a barrier, and it turned and aimed for the other side, the side that Peridot was on. Peridot shifted closer so that their legs touched to give the kitten a little more room to roam.

“I see your point,” Amethyst said. “C-3PO would be a terrible name for him. Way too adventurous.”

Peridot smiled down at the kitten, and Amethyst took a moment to look at her face rather than at the cats. She really was very pretty, Amethyst thought, whether she was smiling or not. And then she thought: _Oh, no, I really have it bad, don’t I?_

She looked back down at the kitten before Peridot could catch her staring.

“I guess they can go without names for a few days,” Peridot said. “I’ll think of something.” She glanced up at Amethyst. “Or you will.”

Amethyst grinned. “Seriously, I’m flattered. But you don’t want me naming your kittens. I’ll give ’em worse names than the shelter does.”

Peridot frowned, considering that. “You’re probably right. Never mind. I rescind my offer.”

Amethyst laughed and pushed her, though not too hard, because the kitten was still on her lap. Peridot responded by carefully setting the kitten back down in the box, and then shoving Amethyst back, much harder. Amethyst pretended to fall, hitting the carpet elbow-first.

“Hey,” she said with a grin, “I’m all for wrestling, but if we’re gonna get rough, we should head out of the kitten room, don’t you think?”

“Of course,” Peridot said. She got to her feet, and waited for Amethyst to do the same, and together, with one final glance at the kittens, they left the room.

“Don’t worry,” Amethyst called as they left. “You haven’t seen the last of us.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot has some bad news.

Amethyst woke up at eight the following morning to the sound of her phone ringing. She ignored it, thinking it must be a telemarketer. But it rang again, and a third time, and on this third call the thought finally filtered through her barely-awake mind that it might be important.

She groped for her phone and opened her eyes a crack to see who it was. Peridot. She groaned. Surely Peridot knew by now not to call her so early?

Nevertheless, she answered it. “Whatever you have to say better be damn important, Peri.”

She was met with silence, and wondered for a moment if it was a butt-dial before she heard a faint sniffle. She sat up, suddenly worried. “Peri?”

Peridot’s tone was thick and shaky, like she’d been crying for a while. “One of the kittens died this morning.”

It was like a knife to the stomach. Amethyst automatically gripped her chest. “Oh my god.”

“I already—” Peridot’s voice broke, and she sniffled again. “I called Rachel to let her know. She said… it’s sad, but it’s nobody’s fault. It just happens sometimes.” She stopped, and Amethyst heard her breath hitch.

“Peridot, I’m so sorry,” Amethyst said. She leaned forward, drawing her knees up to her chest. It shouldn’t hurt so much; she had met those kittens less than twenty-four hours ago. That was hardly enough time to get attached. And yet here she was, trying not to cry on the phone. She could only imagine what Peridot felt like. “Do you need anything? Should I come over?”

“No. No, um…” Peridot paused, apparently to collect herself. She sounded a little calmer, if still shaky, when she spoke again. “I need you to tell them I won’t be in for work today.”

“Yeah. Of course. Look… call me or text me if you need anything else, okay?”

“I will,” Peridot said.

“Is there anything else I can do right now? Or do you just want to be left alone?”

“I…” Peridot’s voice broke again. “I need to pick out a good box to bury him in.”

Amethyst was silent for a moment. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip. “Just… call me or text me whenever you need,” she said.

“I will,” Peridot said again. “I… I should go. Amethyst?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

There was another brief pause. “Yeah. You’re welcome, Peridot.”

Peridot sniffed. “I should go.”

“Okay. I’ll… I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

Peridot hung up, and Amethyst slowly lowered the phone. She hadn’t asked which one it was, she realized, but that probably would have been a mistake, anyway. Peridot was in enough distress.

She shook her head and pulled the covers aside. It was early for her to be awake, but she couldn’t exactly go back to sleep after that. She would just have to find something to do for the next few hours. Something that didn’t involve cats in any way.

\--

Though Peridot had only been volunteering there for a matter of weeks, the cat isolation building seemed unbearably empty. Three hours dragged by more slowly than Amethyst could ever remember them going, made longer by Rachel coming in to give the cats their medicine and asking after Peridot.

“She’s okay,” Amethyst said. “You know. Pretty upset.”

Rachel nodded. “I understand. It hurts every time you lose a cat. Are you okay working your shift alone tonight?”

“I’m fine,” Amethyst said, too quickly. But Rachel didn’t comment, and left Amethyst to wander around unhappily for the next hour and a half. There was plenty to do—laundry to take care of, cats to visit, dishes to wash—but that didn’t stop her from looking at the clock every few minutes until, finally, five o’clock hit, and she had her phone out to text Peridot almost before the numbers changed from 4:59.

_U want me to come over?_

Peridot must have been waiting for her to text, because the response was almost immediate. _Yes. Please. I need you._

“I need you.” Amethyst read those words, then read them again, then pressed the phone to her forehead for a few moments. Then she texted back, _On my way_.

She seemed to hit every red light on the way to Peridot’s house, and kept glancing at the clock, still, as if watching it like a hawk would make her get there faster. But finally, she arrived, and knocked on the door feeling apprehensive. What kind of state would she find Peridot in? Would she still be crying? Would she have progressed to something worse?

Peridot answered the door quickly enough that Amethyst was sure she had been waiting by it. The first thing she noticed was her face: she had bags under her eyes, and her nose was red, but she wasn’t actively crying. She took that as a good sign, until she noticed her fingers. There were fresh band-aids on all of them, but Amethyst could see blood around all her fingernails. She wanted to say something, but Peridot saw her looking and shoved her hands into her pockets, so she kept her mouth shut.

“Are you okay?” she said instead. “I mean… obviously not, but… how are you?”

“I couldn’t do it alone,” Peridot said, not answering the question. She pointed to a shoebox next to the back door. “Bury him. I thought… I just couldn’t do it myself.”

Amethyst looked at the shoebox and nodded. She had worried that she wouldn’t be able to hold it together, but mostly she just felt empty. “Okay. We’ll do it together. Did you pick out a spot?”

Peridot nodded. “I thought… over by those flowers.”

“It’s a beautiful spot,” Amethyst said.

Peridot swallowed. “The, uh… the shovel’s in the shed.”

It was hard. Of course it was hard. The burial itself was easy enough, but Peridot started crying again as Amethyst lowered the shoebox into the grave, and it was all Amethyst could do not to start sobbing, herself. She hadn’t even seen the kitten’s body, but she kept thinking how tiny the grave was, and how small the makeshift coffin looked inside it. Peridot kept her hands in her pockets the whole time, letting the tears stream silently down her face, unchecked.

“Did you get a chance to name him?” Amethyst said quietly, as they stood over the grave.

Peridot shook her head. Her voice was surprisingly steady as she said, “No. I was waiting to see what would fit.”

Amethyst nodded. She felt there was nothing else to say. They stood in silence for a little while, until Peridot turned to head back for the house, and Amethyst followed her.

“Are the rest of them okay?” Amethyst said, once the door was closed behind them.

Peridot wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Yeah. I don’t think they really know it even happened. They can’t exactly count. It…” she gulped, and wiped her eyes again. “It’ll be easier to take care of four of them, anyway.”

Amethyst reached out to put her hand on Peridot’s shoulder, and Peridot flinched away, so she dropped it. “I’m sorry, Peridot.”

Peridot gave an attempt at a laugh. “Now’s the time you choose to learn my name?”

Amethyst gave a weak smile. “Had to happen sometime.”

Peridot looked at her for the first time since she had arrived. “Um… Amethyst…”

“Yeah?”

Was Peridot blushing, or was she just slightly pink because she had been crying all day? “This is a stupid question, but… will you stay the night?”

Amethyst didn’t hesitate to answer. The phrase _I need you_ echoed in her head. “Sure. Of course. I didn’t bring anything…”

“That’s okay. I have a spare toothbrush, and towels if you need a shower… none of my pajamas would fit you, though.”

“I’ll sleep in my clothes,” Amethyst said. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Peridot looked at her, and then, unexpectedly, leaned forward to wrap her arms around Amethyst. After a moment, Amethyst returned the hug.

“Thank you,” Peridot said, her voice slightly muffled by Amethyst’s shoulder. “For coming over. For staying. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. She gave Peridot what she hoped was a soothing pat on the back. “You sounded pretty broken up this morning.”

“Of course I was. I went in to check on them and they were all fine, and then I went in half an hour later to weigh them and he was just… gone. He was so still, I thought… I didn’t know what to do. He was still warm.” She squeezed a little harder. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Okay,” Amethyst said. “Do you want to talk about something else?”

“Um…” Peridot pulled away from the hug to look up at Amethyst. “How was work today?”

“It was fine,” Amethyst said. “Rachel said it was fine that you didn’t come. I missed you, though. I mean, I know why you didn’t come, but… it was weird without you.”

Peridot looked aside. “I’ll be there next week. I just… couldn’t face it this week.”

“Hey, I get it.” Amethyst reached for her hand before she realized Peridot would never go for that, especially now. She dropped her hand and attempted a smile. “Ha—look at us. We’re supposed to be not talking about it. So, uh… seen any good TV shows lately?”

That seemed like an innocuous topic to Amethyst, but Peridot blushed. “Um… no. My favorite show is on hiatus, actually.”

“Yeah? What’s your favorite show?”

Peridot hesitated before answering, and finally mumbled, “Camp Pining Hearts.”

Amethyst burst out laughing. “That garbage? You can’t be serious.”

“It’s not garbage!” Peridot said. “I mean, it is, but it’s _good_ garbage! It’s got everything a good TV show needs. Drama, romance, action, excitement—”

“It’s a fake reality TV show about a summer camp.”

“There’s a lot more to it than that! In the last season finale—”

“Oh my god, Peri.”

Peridot scowled ferociously. “I’ll show you, okay? I have the first two seasons on DVD.”

“Peri…”

“You’re watching this with me whether you like it or not,” Peridot said, already halfway through the television.

Amethyst rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything. She headed for the couch, where Peridot joined her as soon as she’d set up the DVD player.

Amethyst was sure she would be bored to tears, but to her surprise, she ended up enjoying the show. It was garbage, sure, but it was exactly the kind of garbage Amethyst could enjoy. The plots were transparent, the acting less than stellar, but it was exactly the right level of cheesy for Amethyst to get sucked right in.

Or maybe that had more to do with sitting next to Peridot, their legs practically touching as Peridot leaned forward and mouthed the dialogue along with the characters. But either way, Amethyst wasn’t about to complain.

\--

Amethyst woke feeling stiff and uncertain of where she was. She opened her eyes and looked where her clock normally was, but she was met with the side of a couch, instead. Thinking she must have looked the wrong way, she turned to the other side and saw a TV across the room.

Right. She was at Peridot’s house. She’d stayed the night, and offered to sleep on the couch, because the guest room had kittens in it and Peridot made it sound like it should be obvious that she wasn’t going to sleep in _her_ bed. So the couch it was.

She sat up, and immediately realized what had woken her. Peridot was at the stove, facing away from her, and cooking eggs by the smell of it. Amethyst watched her for a moment, sleepily admiring the way she looked in her pajamas (they were nothing special; just alien-patterned boxer shorts and a white t-shirt), before Peridot turned around.

“Oh,” she said. “You’re awake. Good. I made coffee, and the eggs will be ready in a few minutes.” She paused awkwardly. “Did you sleep okay?”

Amethyst opened her mouth to answer, but the only word that came out was, “Coffee?”

Peridot pressed her lips together in what Amethyst belatedly realized was an attempt to avoid smiling. “It’s right here. The cups are in the cabinet above it.”

She didn’t say anything more until Amethyst had drunk most of her coffee and eaten half of her eggs. Then she said, “Thanks for staying. You didn’t have to.”

Amethyst shrugged. “Sure I did.” Those words— _I need you_ —went through her head again. “Are you okay now?”

“Much better. Thank you.” Peridot looked around awkwardly, and then stood up. “I’m… going to the kitten room. Feel free to join me if you want.”

“Oh… sure.” Amethyst had been planning on getting a second cup of coffee, but that, she decided, could wait. “I’ll see you there.”

“Right.” Peridot turned to go, and Amethyst watched her walk down the hall. Then she turned to her eggs and dug in.

Five minutes later, she knocked softly on the door to the kitten room and entered. Peridot was sitting by the box under the desk, and all the cats were out. The kittens were all in her lap—only four, now, though Amethyst was relieved to see they were all alive and well—and Leia was walking in circles around Peridot, purring and meowing occasionally. When Amethyst entered the room, she looked up and sat down in front of Peridot’s knees, prepared to defend her kittens if need be.

“Morning, Leia,” Amethyst said. “Morning, kittens. How are they doing?”

“Just fine.” Peridot sounded much happier than she had yesterday, or even five minutes ago that morning. “They were sleeping when I came in, but Leia wanted attention, so she got out of the box and woke them all up. So I took them out, too. You want to hold a couple?”

Amethyst sat down next to Peridot, who immediately picked up two kittens, one in each hand, and set them on Amethyst’s lap. Now they both had one black kitten each, and Peridot had the tabby while Amethyst had the tortoiseshell. All of them were yelling at the top of their tiny voices, and after Leia inspected them all to make sure they hadn’t been harmed by the transfer, they started roaming around Amethyst’s lap, exploring the new territory.

“They’re so cute,” Amethyst said. “I wish they could stay this size forever.”

“I don’t,” Peridot said. “They can’t walk, they can’t eat, they can barely see… if they were a little more competent, they’d be much cuter.”

Amethyst laughed. “Only you would ask for a two-week-old kitten to be _competent_.”

“I can’t help it,” Peridot said defensively. “I feel bad for their poor mom. When they’re not sleeping, they’re nursing, and when they’re not nursing, they’re complaining about it. If they have to stay any age forever, I’d pick a little older.”

“You are such a nerd, Peri,” Amethyst said, reaching over to lightly punch her arm. “But that’s why I like you.”

Peridot blushed. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Peridot fell silent, staring at the kittens in her lap. Amethyst, meanwhile, looked at Peridot. She was cute, she thought, and smart, and funny… well, she could be funny. And she was caring, and deeply emotional about the things she cared about. Even now, as Amethyst watched her face as she watched the kittens, she could see that she was still sad about the one that was missing.

“You okay?” Amethyst said softly.

“Hmm?” Peridot looked up. “Oh… yeah. I guess. I was just thinking about… you know, the kitten.”

“Yeah.”

They were sitting so close together. Their legs were practically touching. The atmosphere seemed subtly different, somehow, and when Amethyst shifted her weight so that her arm brushed against Peridot’s, Peridot didn’t move away.

“Anything else?” Amethyst said.

Peridot looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

“Are you thinking about anything else?” Amethyst clarified.

But Peridot was still confused. “Like what?”

Well, Amethyst would just have to demonstrate, then. She leaned even closer, so that their faces were only inches apart. “Like this.”

Her lips met Peridot’s, and for a moment, everything seemed right with the world. This was how it should be—the two of them together, alone except for some cats, arms touching, legs touching, lips touching.

But when she pulled away, Peridot’s expression conveyed none of the happiness that Amethyst was feeling. She looked confused, then angry, then downright hurt.

“What the hell was that?” she said.

Amethyst blinked and pulled back. “Um… a kiss?”

“I _know_ it was a kiss,” Peridot snapped. “Why did you do it? Why _now_?”

This was not the reaction Amethyst had been expecting. “I don’t know, it just seemed like the right time…”

“You thought _now_ was a good time? I thought you came over to help me! I thought you were my _friend_!”

She was getting louder. Leia and the kittens were starting to get upset. Wordlessly, Peridot took the kittens from her lap and set them gently back in the box. She did the same for the ones on Amethyst’s lap, and then stood and marched to the door.

“Outside,” she said. “Now.”

Feeling discombobulated, Amethyst followed her out. Peridot closed the door carefully, then rounded on Amethyst.

“How dare you,” she said. “I thought I could trust you! I invited you into my house, I let you sleep on my couch, and you—you _used_ me!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Amethyst said, feeling completely lost and a little hurt.

“The kiss! You waited until I was emotionally vulnerable and then you ambushed me! I thought you were my _friend_ , and now I find out all you wanted was my body!”

Amethyst had only heard the phrase in cheesy romcoms before. She snorted a laugh, which was a mistake. Peridot’s hands balled into fists, and her voice rose. “Don’t _laugh_ at me! It’s not funny!”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Amethyst said. But Peridot wasn’t through.

“I’m not the one being ridiculous! You’re the one that just—just _attacked_ me out of nowhere!”

“Peridot, it was just a kiss! I thought you liked me!”

“Not like _that_!” Peridot yelled, and Amethyst’s heart cracked. “I mean—not—I didn’t ask you to kiss me! I didn’t want that!”

“What the hell do you want me to say about it, huh?” Amethyst said, her temper flaring up. “So I had bad timing, so what? That doesn’t mean I don’t _like_ you, or I was trying to ambush you or whatever else!”

“Well—that just makes you a big _clod_ , doesn’t it?” Peridot turned away, but not before Amethyst caught a glimpse of her hands shaking. “I don’t even want to talk to you anymore. I’m not having this argument. Go away. Get out.”

Amethyst was briefly silent, debating on whether to drag this out or not. But it wouldn’t be worth it. “Fine. I’m leaving. Text me when you’re done being completely irrational about this.”

She stomped out of the house, ignoring Peridot’s shout of “I’m not being irrational!” as the door slammed behind her. But once she got to her car, she didn’t leave immediately. She spent a while staring at the steering wheel, wondering why she felt bad for yelling at Peridot when Peridot had yelled first. She hadn’t done anything _wrong_ , had she?

Had she?

Finally, ten minutes after she had left the house, she started the car and backed out of the driveway. She wasn’t going to get any answers just sitting here.

Still, she spent the entire drive home wondering what she could do to fix this, wondering if she would see Peridot this Saturday, and wondering if Peridot would ever even want to speak to her ever again.


	7. Chapter 7

Amethyst didn’t text Peridot at all that week, thinking it was up to Peridot to make the first move after that outburst. But Peridot didn’t text, either, leading to the longest week of Amethyst’s life. She wasn’t even sure that she would see Peridot on Saturday—and worse, she wasn’t even sure that she wanted to.

But still, she drove to the shelter as normal, and she forced herself not to look for Peridot’s car in the parking lot, and she went down to the cat isolation building without asking for the keys.

It was unlocked. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, and opened the door.

She didn’t see Peridot. For a moment her heart plummeted, but then she saw that the colony room door was closed. She let out a sigh she hadn’t realized she was holding. So Peridot was here.

No point in avoiding her. She went to the colony room and knocked on the door before she could convince herself otherwise.

“Come in,” Peridot said. Her tone was unreadable.

Sure enough, Peridot was there, sitting on the floor and dangling a wand toy for a cat. She didn’t look at Amethyst when she came in, but Amethyst certainly looked at her. She looked… well, pretty much normal for Peridot. Her expression was something close to a scowl, but since that was Peridot’s resting face, Amethyst wasn’t too concerned about it. And the band-aids around her fingers didn’t look too fresh, which meant that Peridot wasn’t picking at her fingers—or at least, not enough to warrant changing bandages right before she came to work. A good sign, Amethyst decided.

“Hi there,” she said, giving a little wave.

Peridot looked up, and did not wave back.

“I don’t want to talk about what happened last weekend,” Peridot said, without preamble. “I don’t want to discuss it or talk about who was wrong or who was right or… or anything. I don’t even want you to mention it. It never happened, okay? Romance-wise, we’re starting fresh.”

It sounded like a rehearsed speech. Well, that worked for Amethyst. She had had no idea what she was going to say, and saying nothing at all would be a lot easier. “Okay.”

Peridot looked surprised, as if she’d been expecting objections. “Well… good,” she mumbled, and turned back to the cat.

“So, uh…” Amethyst cast around for something else to talk about. “Your fingers look good today.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Peridot’s expression turned dark. “They’re fine, thank you,” she said, in a tone that indicated that she didn’t mean that “thank you” at all.

“I just mean…” Amethyst rubbed her arm. “They looked pretty bad last time I saw you, that’s all. Like you’d been picking—”

“It’s none of your business what I do with my fingers,” Peridot snapped. “You’ve never even seen them. How would _you_ know what they look like?”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Amethyst said, holding up her hands defensively. “You said you didn’t want to talk about the k—”

“Don’t say it, don’t say it!” Peridot covered her ears, actually covered her ears to block Amethyst out.

“Jeez, okay!” Amethyst took a step back. “Sorry. I just thought you wanted to talk about… something else.”

“Pick again,” Peridot said, glaring at her.

Irritated, but not wanting to break the fragile peace they were tentatively building, Amethyst cast around for other subjects.

“How are the cats today?” she said, gesturing at the cat at Peridot’s feet.

“They’re fine,” Peridot said, a little stiffly, but at least she wasn’t snapping. “There aren’t that many today. This one’s name is Princess.”

Amethyst looked at the cat. She was fluffy, and small, and white with orange and black spots splattered across her body. “Of course it is.”

“She’s more playful than cuddly. Watch.” Peridot flicked the wand toy, sending the feathered jingle ball at the end flying, and sending the cat flying right after it. Amethyst had to laugh at the way the cat flung herself out to catch the toy; all of her feet seemed to leave the ground at once, and she turned very nearly upside down in a neat little flip in pursuit of the toy.

“She’s pretty cute,” Amethyst said. “How old is she?”

“Nine months.” Peridot twitched the toy, and the cat scrambled after it, once again throwing herself into the air to catch it, even as it landed back on the ground. “She’s still just a baby.”

“No wonder she’s so playful,” Amethyst said. “You better watch out when your four get old enough to play. They’ll be everywhere.”

Peridot’s scowl returned, and belatedly Amethyst realized it had been a bad idea to remind her that one hadn’t made it. “If they live that long.”

There was a brief silence as Amethyst berated herself for being so stupid. “They will. Just because one died—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Peridot flipped the toy and accidentally smacked the cat in the face with it. The cat looked confused for a moment, then recovered and started chasing it again.

“Okay,” Amethyst said. “What _do_ you want to talk about, then?”

There was a pause, long enough that she thought Peridot might not even answer her. But then Peridot said, so quietly Amethyst almost didn’t hear, “Nothing.”

“What?”

“Nothing! Okay? Nothing! Go…” Peridot waved a hand. “Go do some laundry or something. Leave me alone.”

Amethyst stared at her, but Peridot wasn’t looking her way. She was hunched up, one arm around her knees and the other still dangling the toy, her chin resting behind her knees.

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. “Fine. Have fun with Princess.”

It was hard to concentrate on laundry when she knew that Peridot was just one room over, completely ignoring her. Or not completely ignoring her, which might be worse. Was it better to be ignored or hated? Especially by the girl you had a crush on? Amethyst didn’t know, but thinking about it didn’t help with folding laundry.

Her progress slowed down even more when she heard the colony room door open and close, then a cage closing, and turned around to see Peridot in the laundry room doorway. Her hands gripped either side of the door frame, out of sight from where Amethyst was standing. And Amethyst realized she had had her hands on the same towel for the past five minutes without doing anything with it. Quickly, she started to fold again.

“Hey,” Peridot said.

“Hey,” Amethyst replied. Perhaps it was her imagination, but she thought that Peridot sounded a little nervous. Or maybe she was projecting.

“I was thinking,” Peridot said, “and I think we should work together again.” She took a step into the laundry room. “Do you… um, need any help folding?”

Amethyst glanced at the towel in her hands, which was still unfolded. “Um… sure.”

Peridot walked over and picked up a washcloth from the dryer. “So. How’s it going?”

It was like the previous conversation had never even happened. Well, Amethyst could roll with that. “Uh… good, I guess. How about you?”

“Good. Okay, I guess.” She paused, and hesitated a moment in her washcloth folding. “The other kittens are fine. Getting big fast. You know how it is.”

“Yeah. I do.” Now it was Amethyst’s turn to hesitate. “And, uh, how are you doing? After what happened?”

Peridot glanced up sharply, and Amethyst realized how that could be interpreted. “What do you mean?”

“After losing the kitten,” Amethyst clarified.

“Oh.” Peridot looked down again. “I’m okay. I guess it hit me pretty hard. I’ve been watching a lot of Camp Pining Hearts to cope.”

Amethyst did not laugh out loud, though it was a close thing, close enough for Peridot to glare at her suspiciously. Amethyst coughed instead, and said, “That’s… good. Did you give them names yet?”

Now Peridot blushed. “Don’t laugh.”

Oh, boy. Amethyst held up her right hand. “Scout’s honor.”

Peridot squinted. “You were a scout?”

“Well… I was a Brownie,” Amethyst said with a shrug. “So what are their names?”

“The one boy is Percy. The other black one, the girl, is Pamela. The striped one is Paulette and—you’re _laughing_!”

Amethyst was not actually laughing, but only because she was biting down on her hand hard enough for it to hurt. She shook her head and took her hand out of her mouth. “No, go on. What’s the tortie’s name?”

Peridot looked at her suspiciously, but said, “Patricia.”

Amethyst, miraculously, managed to keep a straight face. “So you named them all after Camp Pining Hearts characters?”

“As if that’s any worse than naming the mom Leia,” Peridot said defensively.

“I didn’t say it was bad. Just… you really like that show, huh?”

Peridot blushed deeper. “It’s been a formative influence on me.”

“I can tell.”

Peridot looked down. “Don’t make fun of me,” she grumbled. “I know you’re going to. It’s just a kids’ show, it’s trash, it’s rotting my brain, I know, I know—I’ve heard it all before.”

“I wasn’t going to make fun of you,” Amethyst said. “Seriously. You showed me a couple episodes. It’s not a bad show.”

Peridot frowned. “You’re not just saying that, are you?”

Amethyst shook her head. “No way. It’s not my favorite show in the universe or anything, but it’s not bad.”

“Oh.” Peridot blushed faintly. “Well… good.”

Amethyst smiled. It couldn’t quite be called a grin; she wasn’t quite confident enough that they would continue to get along to grin yet. But it was a smile, and that was a start, she thought. “You wanna maybe show me some more episodes sometime? I wouldn’t mind.”

“Don’t go inviting yourself over to my house,” Peridot warned.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Peridot looked up, and it occurred to Amethyst how close they were. She could close the distance between them with less than a step.

Alarm bells went off in her head. She took a step back, and Peridot quickly went back to her own folding.

“How’s the mom doing?” Amethyst said. “Leia, I mean?”

“She’s… fine. She hasn’t noticed.”

“Right. Can’t count.”

Peridot was going silent again. Maybe it was time to change the subject.

“So, um.” Amethyst stopped. She couldn’t think of anything else to talk about. “Um…”

“How was your week?” Peridot said. It sounded forced, like she, too, was attempting to find something to talk about that wouldn’t create conflict between them.

Unfortunately, she failed. Without thinking, Amethyst blurted out, “I thought about you a lot.”

Peridot went still. Her hands tightened on the towel she had picked up. “What?”

“I… thought about you.” Amethyst looked away. “I wondered what I had done wrong. If you’d still be mad at me Saturday—today.” She was already in a hole, she thought. Might as well dig it deeper.

“You didn’t know what you’d done wrong?” Peridot’s tone was level, but Amethyst could see her hands without looking up, and they were shaking. “You _still_ don’t know what you did wrong?”

“That’s not what I—”

Peridot dropped the towel. “I’m going to go get out another cat. Don’t come talk to me.”

She left the room. Amethyst turned to watch her go, feeling that same mixture of hurt, angry, and confused that she had when she left Peridot’s house last weekend, but somehow a million times worse. She heard a cage open down at the front of the building, then the colony room door closing.

She looked down at her hands. She was still holding the same towel she’d had when Peridot came in. Slowly, she started to fold it again, mechanically, not thinking about what she was doing. Her mind was on other things, like the fact that Peridot was mad at her _again_ , or maybe still, and the fact that it cut her deeper than ever. But mostly she was thinking about herself, and more specifically, how she had just managed to screw up again, and wondering if she would ever manage not to make a complete idiot of herself in front of the people she cared about.


	8. Chapter 8

Peridot didn’t text Amethyst all week. That wasn’t much of a surprise. Amethyst texted her exactly once, on Monday morning, a simple “hey,” but when Peridot didn’t reply, she gave up. Instead, she read the older texts between them, wondering if Peridot was doing the same, or if she had deleted them.

She spent, if she was honest with herself, far too much time thinking about Peridot. Too much time reading texts, too much time remembering how her face and hair and hands looked, too much time thinking about holding and touching and cuddling her. Watching Camp Pining Hearts together. Kissing her.

Amethyst wondered if she would ever get a chance to do that again, maybe this time without making Peridot angry at her. But that was probably too much to hope for. She would be lucky to even _see_ her again, after last week.

On Saturday morning, she almost jumped out of her skin when her phone rang, and scrambled to answer it, thinking it must be Peridot. It wasn’t until the phone was halfway to her ear that she registered the name on the phone had said “Pearl,” not Peridot.

“Hey, P,” she said, trying to sound like her usual self.

Pearl wasn’t fooled. “Amethyst, you haven’t so much as texted me in almost a week. Is everything okay?”

Amethyst thought about how to answer this. The answer was no, but if she told Pearl what was happening, no doubt Pearl would try to fix it, and Amethyst wasn’t sure she wanted that. She was badly in need of someone’s help, but Pearl had a way of being sanctimonious about it that really got under Amethyst’s skin.

But Pearl would know if she said everything was fine, too. She sighed, and said, “I screwed things up majorly with Peridot.”

Pearl groaned. “Oh, Amethyst…”

“Don’t say it like that,” Amethyst said defensively. “Look, one of her kittens died so I came over to comfort her and I ended up staying the night—”

“ _Amethyst_ , you didn’t sleep with—”

“No! Jeez, Pearl, you know I’m not even into that! I slept on her couch. And then in the morning we went to see the kittens again and I kissed her. And she snapped at me.”

There was a brief silence. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

Amethyst sighed. “You really want all the gory details? Fine.”

And she told her. From the morning the kitten had died, to Peridot skipping her shift, to Amethyst staying the night, to the following morning. She slowed down a lot there, not wanting to talk about it, but Pearl was listening, and apparently without judgment. Then she got to the previous week, and when she said why Peridot was no longer speaking to her, Pearl finally interrupted.

“Let me get this straight,” she said. “You said that you still didn’t know what you’d done wrong, and she told you she didn’t want to talk to you anymore?”

“That’s about it,” Amethyst said.

“Have you tried saying you’re sorry?” Pearl said.

Now it was Amethyst’s turn to fall silent. Embarrassingly, she actually hadn’t even thought about that option. She had said she was sorry after the kiss, hadn’t she? Well— _hadn’t_ she? She thought that she had, but now that she thought about it, she couldn’t remember the words ever passing her lips.

“I can’t apologize when I don’t even know what I did wrong,” she finally said.

“Well,” Pearl said, “it sounds to me like she needed a friend, and trusted you to be that friend. From her perspective, I can see how it would look like you abused her trust just to get at her romantically.”

Amethyst groaned. “Jeez, Pearl, no need to sugarcoat it or anything.”

“You did call me for advice,” Pearl reminded her.

“Actually, you called me. And I never asked for advice.”

“True,” Pearl admitted, “but you wanted it anyway.”

Amethyst frowned. That was true, but she didn’t want to admit it.

“If she’s there today, I’ll tell her,” she said, after a brief silence. “If she’s not… I don’t know, P.”

“You’re a big girl, Amethyst,” Pearl said. “I’m sure you can find a way to apologize that doesn’t involve her being in the room with you.”

“You’re making that face,” Amethyst accused.

“You can’t even see me.”

“No, but I can hear it in your tone. You’re making the face you always make when you think you’re right and I’m just being stubborn.”

“I’m not making any face,” Pearl said. Amethyst imagined her keeping her face as straight as possible, even though, as she had just said, Amethyst couldn’t see her. It made her smile, which made for a nice change of pace.

“Thanks for calling, Pearl,” she said. “And for the advice. I’ll let you know how it goes, okay?”

“Okay. And Amethyst?”

“Yeah?”

“Good luck.”

Amethyst smiled again. As ridiculous as Pearl could be sometimes, she was lucky to have her as a friend. “Thanks.”

\--

Peridot wasn’t there that afternoon.

Amethyst couldn’t say she hadn’t been expecting it, but still, she had hoped. If Peridot was there, they could talk, and maybe they could make up. But though she remained pathetically optimistic for the first fifteen minutes of her shift, it was clear long before then that Peridot wasn’t there, and wasn’t going to show up.

Against her better judgment, she pulled out her phone and texted, _Where are u? Coming to the shelter or what?_

Fifteen more minutes passed. Peridot didn’t reply.

Amethyst hesitated. Pearl’s advice ran through her mind. She typed out _I’m sorry_ , but hesitated with her thumb over the “send” button. Would that really do any good? Would Peridot even care?

If Peridot hadn’t responded by the end of the shift, she decided, she would send it. She put her phone away and resolutely tried not to think about Peridot for the rest of her shift.

She failed miserably, of course. But the point was that she tried.

She got out her phone again an hour into the shift and stared at the apology text. Peridot, of course, still hadn’t replied. Amethyst scrolled up to look at their earlier messages—easy, friendly banter. That she had ruined.

She scrolled back down and went to go start the laundry. It would at least take her mind off Peridot. She hoped. Until she remembered that folding laundry together was the last time she had seen Peridot.

She left the laundry in the dryer.

An hour and a half into the shift, she got out her phone and texted, before she could lose her nerve, _Peri, I really don’t want to never talk again. Idk if u feel the same but maybe u could text me back or something. Eventually._

Peridot didn’t reply to that one, either. Amethyst sighed and put her phone away. Once again, she promised herself that she wouldn’t check it again until the shift was over. That wouldn’t be so hard, right? It was only an hour and a half.

She glared at the clock as the seconds ticked by. A distraction, any distraction, would be nice.

Apparently, the universe was listening. The door opened, and she spun around, knowing it wasn’t Peridot and hoping it would be at the same time.

Rachel stepped through the door, and Amethyst’s heart plummeted. She gave her a half-hearted grin and turned away before Rachel could see that she was upset.

“Oh, hello, Amethyst,” Rachel said. “Do you know where Peridot is?”

“Nope,” Amethyst said, trying to sound casual. “She didn’t show up today.”

“Hmm. Well, if you talk to her before next Saturday, can you ask her if she’s going to be in?”

That wasn’t likely to happen, Amethyst thought, but she said, “Yeah. Sure thing.”

“Great.” Rachel gave her a smile. “Want to help me medicate cats in the meantime?”

Anything but staring at the wall thinking about Peridot. “Sure.”

Even with that extra distraction, it was a long hour and a half. Amethyst spent most of it attempting to compose an apology text in her head. At the end of the shift, she still hadn’t come up with anything good. This whole apologizing thing was a lot harder than it should be.

In the end, she just texted _I’m sorry_ at the end of her shift, and left it at that. If she ever saw Peridot again, maybe apologizing in person would be easier.

As if.


	9. Chapter 9

Amethyst composed and erased a proper apology text at last twenty times over the week. Part of her hoped that Peridot would reply to the first text, and everything would be okay between them, but the rest of her knew that it was a foolish hope. Still, that tiny part of her was what kept her from sending a longer text. Pearl nagging her about it didn’t help, either.

And finally, Saturday came, and Peridot still hadn’t texted, and Amethyst went to the shelter with a heavy feeling in her heart. Until she walked through the cat room on her way to check in, and saw, facing away from her—

“Peridot?”

Peridot jumped, nearly hitting her head on the ceiling of the cage she was leaning into, and turned around, closing the cage door behind her.

“Hi,” she said, and then belatedly, “Amethyst.”

“Hi,” Amethyst said. All the apology texts she had deleted ran through her mind, and she opened her mouth to say something, anything at all, and nothing came out.

Peridot took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I stormed out on you last week. I… was very upset.”

“Oh,” Amethyst said. Wasn’t this backward? Wasn’t she supposed to be the one apologizing? “Um… you’re forgiven.”

“Thank you,” Peridot said. It was a good thing no one else was in the cat room at the moment, or this would be even more awkward.

“So, uh,” Amethyst said.

“I got your text,” Peridot said. She looked like she was about to continue, but seemed to change her mind, and looked away.

“Oh,” Amethyst said. “Which one?”

“All of them.” Peridot hesitated, then blurted, “I changed my shift.”

“Oh,” Amethyst said again.

“I don’t think we should work together anymore,” Peridot said. “Because of our… um, relationship.”

Amethyst pressed her lips together. “Relationship?”

“Conflict. I don’t know. Whatever you want to call it.” Peridot shook her head. “I just… don’t think I can be in the same room with you for three hours anymore.”

It hurt more than Amethyst expected it to. “Peri…”

Peridot held up a hand. “Don’t try to argue with me. I’ve made up my mind.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Amethyst said.

Peridot dropped her hand. “Oh.”

There was a brief pause.

“I’m sorry,” Amethyst said.

Peridot blinked. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” Amethyst repeated. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I mean… obviously I _did_ , but… it was an accident, and…” This was coming out all wrong. “I’m just sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“Oh.” Now it was Peridot’s turn to be thrown off. There was another pause, and then Peridot said, “No. I guess you shouldn’t have.”

Amethyst found she couldn’t meet Peridot’s eyes. She looked down. “I’m gonna… check in. See you whenever, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Peridot said stiffly. “See you whenever.”

Amethyst passed her without looking at her, but she could see Peridot staring at her out of the corner of her eye. What was Peridot feeling? Amethyst had screwed up her apology, but Peridot didn’t seem to be mad at her anymore. Not all that happy with her, certainly, or she wouldn’t have changed shifts, but Amethyst had seen her mad, and this wasn’t it.

It was probably best not to dwell on it. But she did so for the rest of her shift, anyway.

\--

Pearl called that evening, well after Amethyst’s shift was over and she had gone into moping mode. Her first words were, “Well? Was she there today? Did you apologize?”

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. “And yeah. But I messed up. I said it wrong.”

“Tell me everything,” Pearl said immediately. “You apologized, but you messed it up? How so? At least you’re working together again. That’s a start, right?”

“We’re not,” Amethyst said heavily. “She’s working in the cat room now. She said she didn’t think we should work together anymore.”

There was a brief pause. “And… what did you say?”

“I apologized,” Amethyst said. “I told her I was sorry and that I shouldn’t have kissed her.”

“What were your exact words?” Pearl was starting to sound like a schoolteacher asking why Amethyst hadn’t done her homework. Amethyst rolled her eyes, which luckily didn’t translate over the phone.

“Just because _you_ have a photographic memory… I said something like, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, it was an accident, I’m sorry.”

Again, there was a silence. Amethyst grimaced. “You think I messed it up, huh?”

“No,” Pearl said, in a tone that indicated exactly the opposite. “I just think… you could probably have done a little better.”

“Yeah, yeah, you think I screwed it up completely,” Amethyst said. “You don’t have to tiptoe around it. Look, I’ll send her another apology text, okay? And this time I’ll say it better.”

Pearl sounded, if possible, more anxious. “What exactly are you planning to say?”

“Jeez, Pearl, do you want me to send it to you to read first? And before you answer, because I know you’re going to say yes, that was sarcasm.”

“I wasn’t going to say yes,” said Pearl, affronted. “I was going to say—I think you can manage perfectly fine on your own.” There was a pause. “But maybe tell me what it says before you send it, anyway.”

Amethyst laughed. “I’ll talk to you later, P.”

Pearl sighed. “Good luck, Amethyst. I hope you patch things up with Peridot.”

“I will,” Amethyst said, desperately hoping that was true.

\--

The apology text took two hours to compose and had Amethyst almost calling Pearl to consult her about it, anyway. She didn’t, and in the end she had an apology text that she thought she could be proud of.

_Hey, Peridot. I know I already texted you about this once, and I tried to apologize in person, but I feel like it came out all wrong. So here’s my latest attempt. Third time’s the charm, I hope._

_I’m sorry. I’ve had time to think about it and I realized why you’re upset with me. I didn’t mean to, but I really did push myself on you at the wrong time. I wasn’t intending to take advantage, but I understand why it felt like that and I shouldn’t have done it. I thought you liked me back, and maybe you did, or still do, but that doesn’t matter. You were right to be upset with me. I hope you can forgive me. For what it’s worth, I still like you._

She waffled about the last sentence for the longest time, but eventually decided to leave it in. Whether Peridot cared or not, Amethyst wanted her to know.

It took her another hour to actually send it after she had it all written down. She would open up the messaging app, see the unsent message, tell herself she would do it later, then repeat the cycle a few minutes later. Finally, at eleven o’clock at night, long after Peridot was probably asleep, she hit send with her eyes closed so she couldn’t lose her courage. The she stared at her phone, knowing that Peridot wouldn’t see the text until morning and knowing that she probably wouldn’t reply even then, but hoping she would see it now and reply now, anyway.

When she had been staring at her phone for five minutes, she realized she had to find a distraction. So she called Pearl. Pearl was probably already asleep, but she would definitely want to hear about this, and it would at least give Amethyst a friend to talk to who could be just as anxious about this mess as she was.


	10. Chapter 10

Amethyst wasn’t one to read too much into the weather, but when it rained on Saturday morning, she couldn’t help but take it as a bad sign. There had been no word from Peridot all week, which wasn’t all that surprising, though it was unnerving. It made Amethyst wonder if her apology text had been terrible after all, and had succeeded in nothing more than making Peridot mad at her all over again.

She went to the shelter with her stomach tied into knots. She didn’t know if it would be worse for Peridot to not be there, and for her to have to confront the idea that she had upset her again (though Pearl, once she had made Amethyst read the apology text to her, said that it was just fine), or for Peridot to be there and for Amethyst to have to think of something to _say_ to her.

But Peridot wasn’t in the cat room when Amethyst went through it to clock in, and she didn’t appear in the brief time that Amethyst lingered there, hoping she would show up. Despondent, she went down to the cat isolation building on autopilot. It wasn’t until she reached the door that she realized she had forgotten to grab the keys.

She sighed and tried the handle, already turning back toward the main shelter to get the keys. But to her surprise, the knob turned, and the door opened.

She didn’t see anyone, at first, which made her think for a moment that the last volunteer had just forgotten to lock the door. But then, in a moment of déjà vu, Peridot appeared around the corner at the end of the hall. Exactly like their first meeting.

“Hi,” Peridot said.

“Hi,” Amethyst said.

Silence fell. Peridot’s fingers went to her bracelet. At least, Amethyst thought, she wasn’t the only one feeling awkward.

“What are you doing here?” Amethyst said, then immediately wished she hadn’t. But Peridot hardly seemed to be listening.

“I got your text,” she said. “You didn’t need to apologize again.”

Amethyst rubbed the back of her neck. “I kind of did. I screwed it up the first two times.”

“I… appreciate it,” Peridot said. She looked at her hands, unable to meet Amethyst’s eyes. “Um… I know last week I said I didn’t think we should work together anymore.”

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. “I remember.” Vividly, in fact.

“Well,” Peridot said awkwardly, “I’ve changed my mind.”

Amethyst couldn’t think of anything to say to that. It was obvious, after all, since Peridot was here rather than up in the cat room. “Right.”

Peridot looked up for the first time since Amethyst had come in. She looked slightly panicked. “Unless you don’t think so?”

“No,” Amethyst said quickly. “I’m fine with us working together.”

“Oh. Good.” Peridot hesitated, then looked back down at her fingers. “I don’t think I ever really thanked you for helping out when… the kitten died.”

“Oh,” Amethyst said. “That’s okay. Um, how are they doing?”

“They’re fine. Growing fast. You wouldn’t believe it.” Peridot reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “I have pictures, if you want to see.”

“Oh. Sure.” Amethyst took a step closer, and Peridot moved quickly to close the distance between them. It was the closest they’d been since that ill-advised kiss. Amethyst tried not to think about it as Peridot pulled up the pictures.

“They’re easier to tell apart now,” Peridot said. “See, the long-haired black one is Pamela. The short-haired one is Percy. He’s also much cuddlier than she is.” The next picture showed her lap with a small bundle of black fur curled up in it. Peridot pointed to the bundle. “That’s Percy.”

“He’s cute,” Amethyst said. “I can’t believe how big he’s gotten. It looks like they’ve at least tripled in size since I saw them last.”

Peridot nodded. “They’re growing pretty fast. They run around now, and chase toys. Here, I’ll show you a video.”

She swiped past a couple more pictures until she found it, and then pressed play. Amethyst watched as all four kittens stalked a mouse on the end of a wand toy. The long-haired black one—Pamela—pounced on it, but missed, and bowled straight into one of her sisters.

Amethyst laughed. “Gotta love ’em at that age.”

“Yeah.” Peridot seemed distracted. “Um, Amethyst? Can I ask you something?”

Amethyst looked at her. “Um, sure. What’s up?”

Peridot took a deep breath, and blushed. “Do you… do you still want to kiss me?”

That was the last thing Amethyst had been expecting. “Um, I—”

But Peridot didn’t give her time to answer. She closed her eyes and practically jolted forward, their lips meeting with unexpected force. The only reason Amethyst didn’t immediately reel back was that she was frozen with surprise.

When Peridot pulled away, looking anxious, Amethyst blinked. Then she said, “Ow.”

“Oh my god,” Peridot said, her expression turning to one of horror. “You’re bleeding.”

“I _am_?” Amethyst touched her lip. It came away wet with blood. “Holy shit.”

“Oh my god, Amethyst, I didn’t mean to—I’m sorry! That wasn’t supposed to happen!”

Amethyst didn’t know what to say. She stared at her finger, felt her lip again, and felt it swelling. Finally, she asked, “Was that your first time kissing someone?”

Peridot blushed. “It’s pretty obvious, huh?”

“I guess.” Amethyst looked at her finger again. The blood didn’t bother her; she’d been hurt worse in weirder ways. But somehow, she couldn’t stop looking at it.

“I could… try again,” Peridot said. “With a different, uh, trajectory this time.”

Amethyst looked at her. She was looking down at her hands, blushing horribly, obviously embarrassed even to ask. And, Amethyst realized, she was about to make it worse.

“I…” Slowly, she shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

Peridot looked up at her, surprised. “Wait—really?”

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. She felt dazed, like someone had suddenly yanked her out of her own reality and put her into a new one. “Sorry. Maybe later.”

Peridot just stared at her. “But I… I thought you wanted to kiss me.”

“I thought I did, too,” Amethyst said. “Look, Peri, let’s just… calm down for a little, okay? No offense. I just… don’t think I’m ready for a relationship yet.”

Peridot’s hands balled into fists. “You were plenty ready three weeks ago.”

Amethyst looked at her. The reaction wasn’t a surprise, especially when she saw that Peridot’s hands were shaking. She was more hurt than angry.

“I know,” Amethyst said. “I just… need a little time to think. It’s not you, it’s me. As much as that’s a cliché, it’s true.”

Peridot unclenched her fists with visible effort. “Fine. Let me know when you’re… ready.”

She turned away. Amethyst almost reached for her, but held back. “I… I don’t want to stop being friends, I just…”

“It’s fine,” Peridot said, her tone sounding forced. “I understand. I get it.”

Amethyst doubted that was true, but she didn’t push the issue. “So… have you done anything yet?”

Peridot shook her head, not looking at Amethyst. “I just got here.”

“Okay. Well, um.”

“I’ll start laundry,” Peridot said, turning toward the laundry room. “You go… socialize the cats.”

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. “Okay. Feel free to join me anytime.”

“I will,” Peridot said automatically.

But it didn’t come as a surprise to Amethyst when she didn’t. She didn’t spend the whole shift avoiding Amethyst, which made for a nice change of pace, but she didn’t actively seek her out, either.

At the end of the shift, they met up at the door. Peridot still didn’t look at Amethyst, but that seemed to be more out of embarrassment than hurt.

“So… I’ll see you next Saturday?” Peridot said.

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. “See you then.”

She opened the door, and Peridot made to go through it. But then Amethyst said, “Hey…”

Peridot stopped. “What?”

“You’re not sneezing,” Amethyst said. “Or sniffling at all. Your allergies are getting better.”

“Oh,” Peridot said. “Yeah. Being around cats a lot has a desensitizing effect. And I’m taking allergy medication twice a day.”

“Oh. That’s good.” Amethyst hesitated, then smiled. “I’ll, uh… I’ll see you next week.”

“Yeah,” Peridot said.

“You can call or text me anytime,” Amethyst said.

“Yeah,” Peridot said again. “I know.”

Amethyst watched her go, and as soon as she was out of sight, she pulled out her phone to text Pearl, _Peridot kissed me. Tell you more about it later_. No doubt Pearl would want to know every detail.

\--

Later that night, after Amethyst had gotten home from the shelter, Pearl called. Apparently Amethyst’s text had been too sparse on detail for her.

“So she kissed you,” Pearl said. “Then what happened? Are you dating now? Did you kiss her back?”

“Chill, P,” Amethyst said. “Yes, she kissed me. No, we’re not dating now. It was… awkward.”

“Awkward how? And how did you two get around to kissing, anyway?” Pearl said. “Last I heard, she was barely speaking to you.”

“It might surprise you to learn that those two things are related,” Amethyst said dryly. “I guess she thought my apology text was up to snuff, so she came into the isolation building today. Back to her old shift, with me. And she sort of… she showed me some pictures of her kittens and then she just… kissed me.”

“That’s it? She kissed you, just like that?”

“No,” Amethyst said. “She kind of headbutted me. She split my lip.”

“Oh my goodness.”

“It was her first time kissing anybody,” Amethyst said. “She’ll get better.”

“Because she’ll be practicing with you?”

Amethyst didn’t answer. Of course Pearl would assume that. After a moment, Pearl said, “Or not? You said you weren’t dating. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Amethyst said. “I thought I wanted her to kiss me, but… it didn’t make me feel how I thought it would.”

There was a brief silence. “Do you want me to come over?”

“Would you?” Amethyst sagged against her car seat. “This feels so pathetic. I like her, I mean, I _really_ like her, but… I just don’t know how I feel right now.”

“I’ll be there in half an hour,” Pearl said. “Don’t do anything stupid before I get there.”

Amethyst smiled. “Don’t worry, P. You know me. I never do anything stupid.”

Pearl laughed and didn’t dignify that with a reply. “I’ll see you soon, Amethyst.”

Thirty-three minutes later, when Amethyst had comfortably settled into her apartment and changed into her pajamas (it may only be six in the evening, but no time was too soon for pajama time), Pearl knocked on her door. As soon as Amethyst opened it, Pearl opened her arms, and Amethyst fell into them with a groan.

“Have I thanked you for existing lately?” Amethyst said.

“You could stand to do it more often,” Pearl said. “Come on. Let’s talk about this.”

She led Amethyst to the couch, and Amethyst collapsed and buried her face in her hands. Pearl patted her back, her own brand of comfort that wasn’t always that comforting, but in this situation, it would do.

“So,” Pearl said. “You like her.”

“Uh huh.” Amethyst nodded.

“And she kissed you.”

“Yep.”

“And you didn’t like it?”

Amethyst let out a little laugh. “Of course not. She was terrible at it.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Pearl said. “You said it didn’t make you feel like you thought it would.”

Amethyst nodded. “I thought I wanted her to kiss me, but then she did, and I just felt… _weird_ about it.”

“Weird how?”

Amethyst groaned. “What are you, my therapist?”

“You asked me to come over,” Pearl reminded her. “I’m just trying to help.”

“Fine.” Amethyst leaned her head back and sighed. “Weird like… okay, it’s not like I didn’t _like_ it, I just felt like it was maybe a bad time for it. Like I wasn’t ready.”

“So kind of like she felt after you kissed her,” Pearl said.

Amethyst stared at her. Somehow, that connection had never occurred to her.

“So,” Pearl said, a little smug now that she had hit on something, “do you think you’ll feel better about it if you wait a bit, and if you two talk about it between you and kiss because you _both_ want to?”

“Stop being so smart, jeez,” Amethyst muttered. “What happened to me giving _you_ romantic advice?”

“That stopped when you told me to kiss a married woman.”

“Oh, come on, you act like that didn’t work out.”

“That’s not the point,” Pearl said. “The point is, you have no idea what you’re doing when it comes to romance.”

Amethyst pushed her. “Shut up.”

“You’re only saying that because you know I’m right,” Pearl said.

“I hate it when you’re right,” Amethyst said, glaring at her.

But Pearl just smiled. “You know you love it.”

The only reasonable response to that, Amethyst decided, was to hit her with a pillow. Which she did. And if things devolved into a pillow fight after that, well, then, it was exactly what Amethyst needed.


	11. Chapter 11

After four solid weeks of Peridot not texting, the last thing Amethyst expected was to get woken up on Sunday morning by a text from Peridot. But that was exactly what happened. All it said was “Hi,” but Amethyst took a while to answer it, because she kept putting her phone down and then picking it up again to be sure she hadn’t dreamed it.

Finally, she texted back, _Hi_.

It only took Peridot a matter of seconds to reply, _What’s up_?

Amethyst sat on her couch, looking at that text now. This time she responded a lot quicker, with a simple, _Not much. U?_

_I don’t work today. I thought we could chat._

_Yeah, sure. What do u want to talk about?_

This time, Peridot took longer to reply. Amethyst let the phone rest on her chest as she stared at the ceiling. It made perfect sense for Peridot not to reply immediately. They hadn’t spoken properly in weeks; of course she’d have trouble thinking of a subject. Still, her heart jumped when the text tone sounded again a few minutes later.

_How about the kittens?_ Peridot texted. _They’re doing well. Pamela’s very vocal._

Amethyst smiled at that. _I guess she’s got a lot to say._

_She sure does._ There was a brief pause between messages, and then, _Do you want to come over and see them?_

Amethyst typed _Yes_. Her thumb hovered over the “send” button. It would be so easy, just to say yes, to go and see Peridot again…

But then she actually stopped to think about it, and her stomach twisted. She wasn’t ready to see Peridot so soon after… what happened.

She deleted the “yes,” those three letters that had been so easy to type and were so hard to send. In their place, she wrote, _Maybe some other time_.

Peridot didn’t answer immediately. Amethyst hoped she hadn’t hurt her feelings, again. She was at the point of texting that it wasn’t Peridot’s fault, and that she just needed some space, when Peridot texted back, _Yeah. Okay. Some other time._ Then, a minute later, _I’ll just tell you all about them for now._

Amethyst smiled at her phone. _Go for it. I can’t get enough of hearing about your kittens._

It was the first time in weeks that talking to Peridot didn’t leave a bad taste in her mouth. She may not be quite ready to see her again yet, but she counted this as a success, anyway.

\--

The week passed slowly from there, but not in a bad way. Since Peridot was actually speaking to her again, it was more of a leisurely pace than a miserable one. They texted back and forth every day, and though Peridot didn’t extend the invitation to come over again, Amethyst kept thinking about asking. She certainly wanted to see Peridot again, but as the days passed, it seemed like a better and better idea to just wait until they worked together on Saturday.

She thought that until Thursday night, after Peridot went to bed and she was left staring at her phone until midnight, 12:30, one, two, three in the morning. Three was late even for Amethyst, but she felt wide awake, rereading all of her conversations with Peridot, running a hand through her hair, remembering how her hair looked, her eyes, her hands, her back…

She had to see her again before Saturday. That only left one day, but that was enough. She set an alarm for nine in the morning, gritting her teeth as she prepared to get six hours of sleep, and resolutely turned off the light.

“For Peridot,” she muttered, and promptly fell asleep.

\--

When her alarm went off in the morning, she forgot why she had set it. What on earth had past Amethyst been thinking? What possible reason could there be to get up at nine in the morning, besides work, which she didn’t have today? Peridot knew she didn’t get up this early, she wouldn’t—

Oh. Of course. She groaned and flung her arm over her eyes. Why had she even gotten involved in this relationship business in the first place?

But she got out of bed after only snoozing her alarm twice, and got dressed while the coffee was brewing. Peridot had better appreciate this.

It was only well after she had left the house that she realized she hadn’t actually let Peridot know she was coming. She didn’t doubt that she would be awake, but knowing Peridot, she would probably have appreciated some warning. But by then it was too late. Peridot would just have to deal with Amethyst showing up out of the blue first thing in the morning.

She did, however, sit in her car in the driveway for a few minutes before going to the door. She had no idea what she was going to say, or do, beyond the vague idea that it would end with them kissing.

When Peridot didn’t answer right away, Amethyst considered bolting and pretending the whole thing had never happened. But she didn’t have time to think that strategy through before the door opened, and Peridot stood there, looking surprised, but not unhappy, to see her.

“Amethyst,” she said. “Uh… come in.”

“Sorry to drop by out of nowhere,” Amethyst said. “Um… how’s it going?”

Peridot closed the door behind her. “Good,” she said. “It’s going… well. You’re up awfully early. I mean, for you.”

“Yeah,” Amethyst said. “I just got up, like, half an hour ago. I had… something important to do.”

Peridot looked at her. Amethyst wondered if this was as awkward for her as it was for Amethyst. She was starting to see the value in Peridot’s social scripts.

“Something important?” Peridot prompted, when Amethyst didn’t continue.

“Yeah,” Amethyst said again. “Um… Peridot… I really like you.”

Peridot blushed. “You do?”

Amethyst nodded. “I do. Like, a lot. And… I shouldn’t have kissed you when I did, and maybe you shouldn’t have kissed me when you did—”

“Amethyst, I’m so—”

“No,” Amethyst said quickly. “You don’t have to apologize. I’m not mad. I’m just thinking—maybe neither of those were the right time, but that doesn’t mean there _isn’t_ a right time. You know?”

Peridot looked at her. Amethyst could feel her face burning, and suddenly found herself doubting that this had been the right thing to do after all.

“I really like you, too, you know,” Peridot said at last.

Despite everything, Amethyst could hardly believe her ears. “Really?”

“Really. I think you’re cute and funny and smart. And… I was sort of hoping there would be a right time for us to kiss, too.”

Her face was practically on fire with blushing. Amethyst started to smile.

“So,” she said. “If we, uh… if we both agree that there should be a right time for kissing…”

Peridot looked at her, and slowly, a smile started to form on her face as well. “Yes?”

“Do you think…” Amethyst took a step closer. “It could be now?”

“Maybe,” Peridot said, standing as still as if she were rooted down.

“Because if it’s not, you need to tell me,” Amethyst said. She took another step closer. “Like, right now.”

Peridot shook her head. “I’m… I’m good.”

“You sure?” They were close now, only inches apart.

Peridot’s voice dropped to just above a whisper as she tilted up so her lips could more easily meet Amethyst’s. “I’m sure.”

They had kissed before, of course, but this time was the best by far. For one thing, Peridot didn’t slam her face against Amethyst’s; no split lips here. For another, and probably more importantly, both of them wanted to be here, and both lingered for several seconds after their lips met. When they finally broke apart, Peridot was smiling.

Amethyst grinned. “Better this time?”

Peridot nodded. “Much.” She reached out to touch Amethyst’s arm and looked up at her. “I think… maybe we should try it again.”

“Oh, yeah?” Amethyst’s grin stretched wider.

“Yes,” Peridot said firmly. “An experiment needs to be repeated in order to be sure it has produced valid results.”

It wasn’t the response Amethyst had expected, though she should have, knowing Peridot. She laughed out loud. “You are such a nerd, Peri.”

“Shut up and kiss me,” Peridot said.

Amethyst was happy to oblige. She wrapped her arms around Peridot and kissed her for all she was worth, even going so far as to dip her. Peridot flailed a little before settling her hands on Amethyst’s arms. It was a bit of an awkward position, so Amethyst righted them before long, and saw that Peridot was blushing and faintly out of breath.

“So,” Amethyst said, doing her best to maintain a professional voice that was belied by her continuing grin, “how was that?”

“Good,” Peridot said. “Better than the last one. You know,” she added, “from this I think we can form the hypothesis that if we keep kissing, they’ll just keep getting better.”

“I don’t know,” Amethyst said, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “I think we’ll need some more data on that.”

This time, Peridot initiated the kiss. It wasn’t as forceful as it had been the first time she kissed Amethyst. Evidently she was learning. Amethyst opened her eyes partway into the kiss and saw that Peridot was squeezing her eyes tight shut, as if bracing for something, and she couldn’t help it—she started giggling.

Peridot pulled away. “What? What’s so funny?”

“Sorry, Peri,” Amethyst said. “It’s just… your face. You look like you’re trying really hard not to fart or something.”

Peridot went from indignant to self-conscious. She looked down at her hands. “Is it that bad?”

“Your kissing is fine,” Amethyst assured her. “Nothing wrong with that. Just… you know… you can relax a little. Kissing’s supposed to be fun, not stressful. Hey—how about we try something a little different?”

Peridot looked at her suspiciously. “I don’t want to kiss with tongue.”

Amethyst pressed her lips together to avoid laughing again and ruining the moment. “Good, because that’s not what I was going to do.”

Peridot looked perplexed, as if she couldn’t imagine anything else kissing-related that Amethyst would want to do. Amethyst grinned. “Ready?”

Peridot only hesitated a moment. “Ready. I guess.”

Amethyst went in for a kiss, just an ordinary one at first. Peridot’s lips were soft, and Amethyst wasn’t about to give up a chance to appreciate them. But after a few seconds, she moved past her lips, kissing the corner of her mouth, then her cheek. At first, Peridot tried to move her head to keep up with the kisses, but Amethyst gently put her hand on Peridot’s opposite cheek, keeping her in place. She kept going, kissing along her cheek, just under her eye, and finally reaching the spot just in front of her ear and planting a final kiss there. Then she pulled away, and saw Peridot absolutely glowing red.

“How was that?” Amethyst said, as if she hadn’t noticed.

Peridot swallowed. “Um… it was good.”

“Relaxing?” Amethyst said.

Peridot’s face immediately returned to a scowl, though the expression was significantly lessened by the fact that she was still blushing. “I don’t know if _relaxing_ is really the word I’d use for it.”

Amethyst grinned. “Arousing?”

“No!” Peridot flailed and took a step back. “Not that either!”

“Stimulating?” Amethyst suggested. “Pleasant? Gay?”

Peridot’s blush deepened. “Let’s go with that last one.”

“Good,” Amethyst said. “Because it was pretty gay for me, too.”

On impulse, she reached for Peridot’s hand, forgetting for a moment her tendency not to let people touch her. She remembered before she made contact, and withdrew, but to her surprise, Peridot reached out and grabbed her hand before it could fall all the way back to her side.

Amethyst looked at their hands together, Peridot’s bandaged fingers wrapped around hers. It meant, she realized, a lot more than the kisses had. It meant trust. It meant Peridot was really serious about liking Amethyst. And that meant more to Amethyst than any amount of kisses Peridot could ever give her.


	12. Chapter 12

The next few weeks were, comparatively, bliss. When Peridot and Amethyst weren’t texting each other, they were generally in each other’s company. They saw each other every weekend at the shelter, naturally, but it wasn’t long before Amethyst started spending the majority of her time at Peridot’s house. Her excuse, not that she needed one, was the kittens.

“You’re only gonna have them for a little while longer,” she told Peridot. “I’ve got to spend as much time as possible with them before they go.”

They were together in the kitten room, Amethyst sprawled on the floor with two on her lap, and Peridot sitting cross-legged on the bed, dangling a wand toy for the other two. Leia watched the toy with avid interest from the box.

“Of course,” Peridot said. “There’s no other possible reason you would want to come over to my house all the time, right?”

“Nope.” Amethyst grinned at her.

Peridot rolled her eyes. “Silly me, thinking I had anything to do with it. Well, be sure to pay extra attention to Leia. They’re going to be done nursing soon, and then she’ll be going back to the shelter.”

Amethyst’s tone softened. “You’re really gonna miss her, huh?”

Peridot twitched the toy, causing one of the kittens to leap straight into the other.

“Yeah,” she said. “I couldn’t keep her anyway, but I worry about how the kittens will react. They’re still awfully young.”

“They’ll forget about it,” Amethyst said with a shrug. “Kittens turn into cats all the time. They’ve got to grow up sometime.” She petted a hand across the two in her lap—Paulette and Percy. Percy was definitely the cuddliest of the lot, but Paulette, she found, was her favorite. She rarely settled down, but she loved to be petted, and she had a loud purr and a quiet meow. Right now, she was asleep, curled up next to her brother on Amethyst’s lap.

“I suppose,” Peridot said reluctantly. “But…”

“You’ll miss her,” Amethyst said. She looked at Leia, who had stood up when her kittens crashed, and settled back down when she realized no one was hurt. “I guess I’ll miss her, too.”

Peridot looked slyly at Amethyst. “You know, sometimes I think you only started flirting with me so you could spend more time with the kittens.”

Amethyst laughed. “If so, that plan backfired, didn’t it? Anyway, you’re way more important than these guys.” She paused, and looked down at the sleeping, stripey bundle on her lap. “Most of them.”

Peridot leaned over, propping her chin up in her hands and her elbows on her knees. “You really like Paulette, huh?”

Amethyst shrugged, like it was no big deal. “She’s cute, you know? They’re all cute, but…” She smiled. “Yeah. Paulette’s my favorite.”

As if responding to that, Paulette lifted her head, opened her eyes a crack, and yawned. Then she snuggled right back in with her brother, but now she was purring hard enough that Amethyst could feel her vibrating.

Peridot looked down at her. “Do you ever think about keeping one of them?”

Amethyst shook her head. “I try not to. My landlord would have a fit.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Peridot looked down at Leia and her two kittens, who were all still avidly watching the feather, and sighed. “I think about keeping them, sometimes. But they’re so young, it’s hard to tell what they’ll be like when they grow up.”

“That’s the trouble with adopting kittens.” Amethyst stared at Paulette. “If I could, though, I would definitely keep this one.”

“You’re hopeless,” Peridot told her.

Amethyst leaned back and grinned at her. “I’m not the one with four kittens and their mom in my guest room.”

“They’re temporary,” Peridot protested. “It’s not like I’m _keeping_ five cats. I’m just fostering them.”

“You’re also the one who decided she absolutely needed to adopt a cat her second week volunteering at the shelter,” Amethyst reminded her. “I’m just saying. I might be hopeless, but I’m certainly not the only one.”

Peridot scowled. “As you may remember, I didn’t end up adopting her.”

“I do remember, actually. Given that the cat is not currently in your house, and these guys _are_ …” Amethyst gestured at the kittens. “I’m sure she went to a great home, though. And so will these guys.”

“Yeah,” Peridot said. “I’m sure they will.”

Amethyst reached up and patted Peridot’s knee, the easiest part of her to reach given their current positions. “You wanna join me down here on the floor?”

The answer, apparently, was yes. Peridot set the wand toy aside and slid down to sit next to Amethyst. She settled her hand on the floor close to Amethyst, and Amethyst kissed her cheek by way of greeting.

“I’ll miss them,” Peridot said. “When they go.”

Amethyst gave her arm a playful, gentle shove. “Hey, don’t worry. No matter what happens, you can always complain to me about the lack of cats in your life.”

Peridot gave her a small smile. “Yeah,” she said. “I know.”

\--

Saying goodbye to Leia was unexpectedly hard. Peridot asked Amethyst to go with her, and of course Amethyst agreed, which meant that the two of them were left to comfort each other, and the mewling kittens, after they left Leia at the shelter.

The kittens didn’t need much comfort. As Amethyst had predicted, they seemed to hardly realize she was gone, at least once they were back at Peridot’s house, sans Leia. Peridot, though, was awfully quiet, even as she flicked the wand toy this way and that for the kittens to chase.

“Hey,” Amethyst said. “You okay?”

“Huh?” Peridot looked at her. “Oh—yeah. I’m fine.”

“You miss her, huh?”

Peridot looked aside. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

Amethyst reached for her arm to give it a comforting squeeze. “I miss her, too. But you know she’ll be happy with whatever family she ends up with.”

“Yeah.” Peridot sighed. “I just kind of thought it would be easier.”

“It’s never easy,” Amethyst said. “But hey. Maybe one day you’ll fall in love with a cat that you actually get to keep, huh?”

Peridot looked at her and smiled. “Yeah. Maybe one day.”

\--

There was a brief period during which Amethyst couldn’t come over as often, because work had quite suddenly picked up the pace and she was needed a lot more. Peridot kept her updated on the kittens by sending her lots of pictures and videos, at which some of which Amethyst had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud at work. It was disappointing that she didn’t get to see them as often, but it wasn’t until Peridot texted her in the middle of work one day that she realized just how bad the timing was.

_I’m taking them back on Wednesday_ , Peridot said. _I need to talk to you_.

That was a little unnerving. Amethyst almost called then and there, but figured it would be better to wait until she had enough time to hear whatever it was Peridot had to say. She called on the way to her car after work, and Peridot answered on the first ring.

“Hey, Peri,” Amethyst said. “You want me to come with you when you bring the kittens back?”

“What?” Peridot sounded distracted. “Oh. Yes. That, too. But that’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh.” Amethyst paused as she tried to think of something else Peridot could be talking about. She came up blank. “What, then?”

“I was thinking,” Peridot said, then paused, and sighed. “Can you come over? I don’t want to do this over the phone.”

She didn’t want to do _what_ over the phone? Amethyst’s brain filled with possibilities, none of them particularly good. She tried to keep her tone light. “Jeez, Peri, are you breaking up with me or what?”

“No! No. Nothing like that.” Peridot took a deep breath, and Amethyst allowed herself to breathe again. “It’s just… a little complicated. I want to talk to you face to face. So can you come over?”

“Yeah,” Amethyst said, without hesitating. “I can be there in twenty minutes.”

“Great.” Peridot sounded relieved. “I’ll see you then.”

“Hey,” Amethyst said, before Peridot could hang up. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Peridot said, and Amethyst’s stomach unclenched a little more. “It’s nothing bad. I just want to talk to you.”

“Okay.” Amethyst started her car. “Listen, I gotta go drive. I’ll see you in a few, okay?”

“Right. See you then.”

Amethyst drove perhaps a little faster than necessary to get to Peridot’s house, because even though Peridot had said that nothing was wrong, Amethyst couldn’t help thinking of all the things that _could_ be wrong that Peridot didn’t want to tell her over the phone. It took her 17 minutes to reach Peridot’s house. Peridot seemed to be expecting her, though, because she answered only seconds after Amethyst knocked.

“Hi,” Peridot said. She pulled back and started fiddling with her hands. Whatever she had to say, it was obviously making her nervous. “You, uh… want to come in and see the kittens?”

“Sure,” Amethyst said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m _fine_ ,” Peridot insisted. “It’s nothing bad, all right? It’s just not something I wanted to do over the phone.”

Now that Amethyst could see Peridot, her mind went in an entirely different direction from all the bad things that could happen. Was Peridot going to propose? Was she going to ask Amethyst to sleep with her? Amethyst’s mind started spinning in search of the politest way she could say _no_.

“I was thinking of keeping one of the kittens,” Peridot said.

Amethyst blinked. That was so far from what she had been expecting that she was sure she hadn’t heard right. “What?”

“I was thinking of keeping one of them,” Peridot repeated. “Paulette. The one you like.”

Amethyst stared at her. “Really?”

Peridot nodded. “I thought… you know. Since you like her, and you can’t keep her yourself…”

“That’s…” Amethyst found herself speechless. “Uh, thanks.”

Peridot blushed. “You… don’t sound very excited.”

“It’s not that,” Amethyst said quickly. “I just… don’t know what to say.”

“Oh.” Peridot looked down. “I wondered… I worried maybe it was too much.”

“No,” Amethyst said. “It’s… wow. Thank you. I mean… are you really doing this for me?”

Peridot’s blush deepened. “I really like you,” she reminded Amethyst. “I just… wanted to do this for you. And, um—” She hesitated.

“Spit it out, Peri,” Amethyst said.

“There was something else I wanted to ask you,” Peridot mumbled. She looked at the floor, apparently unable to look at Amethyst. “If you don’t mind.”

Amethyst looked at her. “Okay… what is it?”

“I…” Peridot swallowed. “Well… I kind of… I’ve been thinking about getting a roommate.”

For a moment, Amethyst didn’t get it. Then her eyes grew wide as she realized what Peridot was talking about. “Are you… are you asking me to move in with you?”

“Only if you want,” Peridot said quickly. “You don’t have to say yes. It’s just a thought. I mean, the rent would be less for both of us, and I know my landlord wouldn’t mind… but I guess moving in together is, um, a pretty big step…” She looked aside, embarrassed. “This is dumb. Never mind. Forget I asked.”

“No,” Amethyst said. “I mean—yes. I mean… yes. It’s not a bad idea. I’ll… think about it.”

Peridot looked up at her, eyes wide. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Amethyst said, hardly believing it herself. “Like you said… I really, really like you.”

Peridot seemed hardly able to believe it. “I mean… really? You mean it?”

Amethyst’s smile grew a little wider. “Yeah, Peri. I mean it. For real. And before you ask for a third time, yes, I really do mean it.”

Peridot was right; it was a big step. But then, friends moved in together all the time, didn’t they? And they hadn’t had a proper fight for several weeks at least. It wasn’t as though they were getting married. Though with that thought, something occurred to her, and she laughed.

Peridot’s expression turned from delighted surprise to suspicion. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” Amethyst said. “It’s just that—most people get married before they move in and adopt a cat together. That’s all.”

Peridot stared at her for a long moment, then started to grin. “Yeah. We’re going about this all wrong, aren’t we?”

“We sure are,” Amethyst said. “But you know something?”

“What?”

Amethyst leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. “It’s better this way.”

And from the way Peridot threw her arms around Amethyst and kissed her back for all she was worth, it seemed likely that she agreed.


End file.
